


Heart of a Warrior

by Fanofeverything101



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Scott, Canon Relationships, Derek is Scott's big brother, Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experience, Protective Scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 78,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24279973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanofeverything101/pseuds/Fanofeverything101
Summary: After Theo has made his play and Scott has somehow come back from the dead, the Alpha is determined to put his pack together and stop the Dread Doctors and the chimera, but he's not going to be doing it alone. Despite the help he didn't expect, Scott is left wondering if it would've been better if he had stayed dead. *5b AU, rated T to be safe*
Comments: 27
Kudos: 22





	1. Rise Up

**Author's Note:**

> Here is something I feel I should let you all know before you get into this story. I am a major Scott McCall fan, and am really unhappy with Stiles in this season. I know and understand that Stiles was scared of what would happen if Scott knew he killed Donovan, but to me, that was Stiles not trusting Scott, not trusting that he would understand what happened and help him, and it really bugs me that everyone blames Scott when they were both at fault. Scott, for listening to Theo and not giving Stiles a chance to explain, and Stiles, for not telling or trusting Scott with what happened in the first place. If he had just told Scott in the first place, then Theo wouldn’t have been able to blackmail him. This story, is not meant to have any character bashing, though one character does get mad at Stiles later on in the story, and if you feel that there is some bashing, it is purely unintentional. If you are a major Stiles fan who thinks it’s all Scott’s fault, then you probably shouldn’t read this story. I’m sorry if this bugs anyone, this is just my opinion. If you guys don’t like it, then please don’t read. The last thing I want to do is hurt or offend anyone, but I feel you guys should know this going into the story.
> 
> Other than that, I hope you guys really do like this story.

_Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel._ \- **Louise Erdrich, _The Painted Drum_**

_Scott examined his surroundings with surprise. The last thing he remembered was Theo’s claws digging through his chest, ripping his heart into pieces painfully. Everything went dark and cold after that. It was like he was floating until suddenly, his eyes opened and he found himself here, in the middle of a forest._

_Quickly recognizing it as the woods right on the edge of Beacon Hills, Scott started walking, trying to figure out what was going on. Was he dead? Theo had clawed his heart, he should be dead, shouldn’t he? Was he in some sort of limbo, between life and death? Maybe his werewolf healing had kicked in and was in the process of trying to keep him alive._

_“Scott.” The Alpha’s hearing easily picked up the distant voice calling his name, but it wasn’t what the voice was saying that gave him a jolt. It was the person who the voice belonged to. He would’ve recognized it anywhere._

_“Scott.” Allison. It was Allison. She was here, and she was calling him. Scott immediately started running through the trees, following the sound of her beautiful voice that he had been longing to hear for over a year._

_Soon, he was out of the woods, standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the city of Beacon Hills. It was one of the places where Scott and Allison would meet up back when they were dating, when he Dad threatened to kill him if Allison continued seeing him. And just like before, Allison was waiting for him, wearing a white dress that went down to just above her knees and a dark leather jacket, covering her shoulders and arms._

_“Hi Scott.” Allison with a smile. Slowly, Scott walked towards her, completely mesmerized by how beautiful she was with the moonlight shining down on her._

_“Allison.” Scott murmured her name as he came to stand in front of her. He hesitantly lifted his hand and placed it on her shoulder. If this really was all in his head, if it was an illusion, the last thing he wanted right now was to break it. But his hand connected with her shoulder, and he immediately pulled her into his arms, tears starting to fill his eyes. Allison quickly returned his hug, holding him as tightly as he could._

_“I can’t believe you’re here.” Scott whispered in her ear, her dark brown/black hair covering his face._

_“But Scott, you shouldn’t be.” Allison said, pulling herself out of his arms. Scott however still held onto her upper arms, unwilling to let her go._

_“What?” Scott didn’t understand what she was saying. Seeing her again was something he had been wishing for ever since she died. How could she say that he shouldn’t be here, with her?_

_“Look.” Allison told him as she placed her small hand on his chest gently. Scott looked down and saw the bloodied holes and rips in his shirt. Through them, he saw the wounds that Theo’s claws had left. It was then that Scott remembered what had happened, he had forgotten all about it the second he heard Allison’s voice, and the pieces fell into place._

_“I’m dead.” Scott stated in shock. Though he had thought he was before he found Allison, it was still shocking to hear._

_“Yes, but not yet.” Allison replied, causing Scott to look at her in confusion._

_“What do you mean?” Scott asked, staring right into her brown eyes. Allison stayed quiet for a moment, clearly thinking of a way to explain whatever was happening to him._

_“Your body is trying to heal itself, trying to keep you alive, but it’s failing. The longer you stay here, the less likely you will be able to go back.” Allison told him._

_“I’m in limbo?” Scott concluded, as he tried to figure out what Allison was telling him. That technically he was dead, but there was still a chance he could return._

_“Pretty much.” Allison confirmed. She then raised her hand from its spot on Scott’s chest, and laid it on his cheek, giving him a small, sad smile._

_“Scott, you have to go back.” The hunter told him earnestly, “Our friends, your pack, they need you. You have to help them.”_

_“I don’t know if I can Allison. I failed them, I failed everyone. I don’t know if I can fix what I’ve done.” Scott replied, lowering his head in shame. Allison dropped her hand in response, but kept her eyes on him._

_“And what have you done?” Allison wondered, causing Scott to look up at her. If she knew that he was dead, or dying, if she knew who Liam was, then she had to know what all happened in the last few weeks._

_“I trusted Theo.” Scott said, feeling a surge of anger at the thought of the werewolf, no, the chimera who Scott welcomed only to discover he came to destroy his pack._

_“You may have done that, but Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Kira, Liam, they all made their own choices too. You aren’t responsible for what they did.” Allison responded, nothing but sincerity in her voice and eyes. Scott could see that she truly didn’t think he was responsible for what happened._

_“I’m their Alpha, of course I’m responsible for them.” Scott pointed out. He was their leader, and he led them into a trap of chaos and destruction._

_“Only to an extent, Scott. Unless you told them to make those decisions, only they are responsible for them. They didn’t have to trust Theo just because you did.” Allison tried to get him to believe, but Scott shook his head._

_“But if I hadn’t trusted Theo, if I hadn’t let him in the pack, he wouldn’t have had the chance to get close to them.” Scott argued. How could she not get it? This was his fault, everything that happened was his fault. The minute he trusted Theo, the minute he let him in the pack, he set off a chain of actions that brought them here._

_“We can get close to people who aren’t in the pack Scott. It really isn’t that hard. We got close to Lydia, and somewhat to Jackson when they weren’t in our pack.” Allison reminded him. Even though Scott technically wasn’t an Alpha at that point, she was right. After he realized that the entire time he was a werewolf, he had been subconsciously forming is own pack, and at the beginning, Lydia and Jackson weren’t part of it, not fully, even though Allison was best friends with Lydia, and the redhead was in love with Jackson._

_“I don’t know how to get them back. Why would they even want too?” Scott asked her, again lowering his head so he couldn’t meet Allison’s eyes. After everything that happened, he wouldn’t blame his friends if they wanted nothing to do with him. If he was in their shoes, he wasn’t sure he would. Allison placed her fingers under his chin and forced him to lift up his head so she could stare right into his eyes._

_“Because, you’re Scott McCall. The Alpha who cares for everyone and wants to save everyone he can despite how much it can cost. The one who never stops fighting.” Allison told him with a smile that then turned to a look of determination as she gripped his arms which were still holding hers and said, “And you are not, done, fighting.”_

_Scott didn’t say anything, he just stared at her, marvelling at the fact that despite she was dead, there was still the fight in her eyes, the spark he had fallen in love with the minute he saw her as she walked into the class room. He used to have that same fight, the fight to protect his friends, his pack, his town. But that fighting had slowly been dying as time continued on. He wasn’t sure he had anything left anymore. He had given everything he had, but the fighting never stopped. He felt so broken inside, too broken to get back up and keep fighting._

_“Remember what I told you, at that terrible hotel? The Glen Capri?” Allison wondered when Scott remained silent. Again, Scott didn’t respond. After that night, he had spent so long trying to forget what happened, but he still remembered. That night haunted him as if it only happened a few hours ago._

_“There’s always hope.” Allison repeated her words from that night. She then put her hand on his cheek again as she told him, “You are their hope Scott, and they need you now more than ever. Bring them back together. Don’t let Theo win.”_

_Hearing that, Scott again pulled her into his embrace, laying his head against her shoulder as Allison wrapped her arms around him._

_The Alpha wasn’t sure what strength he still had, how much fight was still in him, but if this was what Allison wanted, then he would do it. Scott also wasn’t sure if his pack would come back to him, but he owed it to Allison, he owed it to everyone to try. The hunter was right, like she usually was. He couldn’t leave his pack the way they were. He couldn’t promise he would get them back, but he had to try._

_Suddenly, a faraway voice broke through the silence, and the former couple broke apart. Scott listened carefully, trying to figure out who it was and what the person was saying. When he heard it again, he looked back at Allison and asked, “Wait, is that?”_

_“It’s your Mom.” Allison confirmed before adding, “It’s time for you to go back.”_

_Scott wanted to argue, wanted to beg for more time with her, but knew that if he didn’t go now, he never would. So, he stared right into her eyes and said, “I love you.”_

_“I love you too, always.” Allison replied, smiling at him once more._

_“Will I ever see you again?” Scott wondered. He had to know if this was the last time they would ever meet. Allison nodded, clenching her fist._

_“One day. But for now, roar.” Allison told him, then pounded his chest with her fist, right on his wounds causing a surge of agony to rip through him and a roar to break through his mouth._

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott woke roaring before he stopped and let his head fall back down onto the hard floor. Opening his eyes, he found his Mom leaning over him and Mason on his other side, looking down at him in amazement. He was back in the library, he was back. He was alive again.

“Scott?” Hearing his Mom’s voice breaking as she said his name, Scott turned his head slightly to look at her. When she saw that she had his attention, she smiled and ran her hand through his hair.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, you’re going to be okay.” She whispered comfortingly, tears starting to fall from her eyes. The nurse then moved to lift up her son’s head and placed it on her lap.

“Mom?” Scott called out weakly.

“I’m here, I’m here. It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay.” His Mom told him, then pressed a kiss on his forehead despite the blood that he knew was on his face.

“Mason, help me get him up.” Melissa ordered the teenager who was still staring at Scott with shock. When he heard Melissa address him though, he moved help Scott stand up.

“I don’t get it. He didn’t have a heartbeat, he wasn’t breathing. He was dead for 15 minutes.” Mason told them as they lifted the injured werewolf to his feet.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re okay now.” Melissa said the last part to Scott, who was now standing, though leaning on the two of them heavily.

“Let’s get you home.” With that, the two helped Scott out of the school and towards her car so they could get him home, to safety.


	2. Divided We Fall

Half an hour after his Mom and Mason helped get him into her car, Scott found himself lying down on his bed, his shirt opened so reveal the bloodied wounds all over his torso from his fight with both Liam and Theo. Mason was now downstairs doing something, Scott didn’t know what, but he could hear and smell that he was still in the house. His Mom was in the bathroom attached his bedroom, which she soon came out of with a small bowl and cloth. She sat down on the edge of his mattress and began cleaning off the blood as well as cleaning the injuries he had sustained with the cloth that was wet with warm water.

“Are you alright?” His Mom inquired, seeing the damage that had been inflicted on her son as she continued cleaning up her only child as gently as she could.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scott tried to assure her. His Mom didn’t respond, nor did the worried yet focused expression leave her face as she continued cleaning him up with the rag. Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the wound on his chest, the one left by Theo has he clawed Scott’s heart.

“What?” Scott wanted to know. Maybe with the blood being cleaned up she was now seeing how bad the injury actually was.

“You aren’t healing like you usually are.” His Mom revealed. He looked down and saw that it looked as though he hadn’t even begun healing at all yet. Though he knew that sometimes, it took a while for him to heal, depending on the severity of the injury and the circumstances on which he got it, his healing should’ve have kicked in at least a little by now. Then again, he had never been this seriously injured before and not only that, he had been poisoned with wolfsbane. That could definitely affect what was happening to him.

“I think I just need some rest. A lot has happened over the last few weeks.” Scott told her. The nurse looked like she was about to say something, but their attention was drawn to the door when they heard a soft knock. Mason stood in the doorway, looking a little nervous with his fist against the wooden frame.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Mason questioned, cautiously entering the room. He hadn’t driven over with the senior and his Mom as he had taken his own car over to the school and drove that to the house instead. Once he got there, he did help Melissa bring Scott upstairs to his room, but then went downstairs to calm himself down and went to the washroom to clean himself up as he got Scott’s blood on himself.

“I’m alright.” Scott replied instantly.

“I can’t believe you just came back to life. That was awesome!” Mason exclaimed, still somewhat in a high over what he had witnessed in the school less than an hour ago. However, Melissa shot him a look that clearly told him to shut up, and Mason quickly realized that his excitement over the event wasn’t welcome as Scott had actually died.

“Sorry.” Mason immediately apologized, feeling guilty for his reaction.

“It’s okay Mason.” Scott replied and waited to see that the sophomore heard him before he added, “But, there’s something I need you guys to do for me.”

“What?” Mason wondered, not sure of what the Alpha could want from them both, but he sounded serious.

“Don’t tell anyone what happened. I don’t want anyone to know that I died.” Scott requested. His pack had already gone through enough due to Theo and his mind games. They were now pretty much completely divided. If they knew that Theo had actually managed to kill him, their leader, there was the chance that they would see him as weak and Theo could use that against them. That chimera didn’t need any more ammo than he already had.

“But Scott,” His Mom immediately started to protest, but Scott interrupted her.

“Please. Just, keep what happened to yourselves.” Scott pleaded to his Mom. Reluctantly, she nodded. She still believed that his friends deserved to know what had happened to him, if Scott really didn’t want anyone else to know, she would keep her mouth shut, for now. When he saw her nod, he looked over at Mason who had not given an answer yet.

“Okay.” Mason agreed. He didn’t really understand why Scott didn’t want anyone to find out what Theo did, but he would respect the alpha’s wishes. It was then that Melissa finished cleaning up her son as best she could, and put the cloth and bowl on Scott’s bedside table.

“I’ve got to get back to work.” Melissa informed the two before looking back at her son and said, “You get some rest and heal.”

Scott nodded. He knew that his Mom was still worried about him and wasn’t willing to make it worse. It’s not like he do anything else but rest, even if he wanted to. He was so sore and tired, he felt like he was about to fall asleep any minute. The only thing keeping him awake was the fact that he still had something to say to Mason, but he waited until his Mom was gone before he said anything, as it concerned Liam, and he wasn’t sure how his Mom would react to his beta’s name or Scott’s request. The minute she was gone, Scott turned his attention to Mason, who was standing by the foot of the bed.

“Mason, go find Liam. Make sure he’s okay.” Scott asked with some what of an ordering tone. Despite what all happened, he needed to know that his beta was safe and that someone was with him while he struggled with the knowledge that his first love was dead.

“Yeah, got it.” Mason responded. He didn’t need to be asked, he was planning on checking in on his best friend soon, but wanted to make sure that Scott was alright. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mason asked, not wanting to leave the injured teenager alone if he wasn’t alright.

“I will be, don’t worry.” Scott answered, giving Mason a smile grin to assure him even more. Mason still wasn’t sure, the werewolf still looked to be in bad shape, but he said he was and Liam needed him too. So ultimately, Mason nodded and headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once they were gone, Scott relaxed into the mattress and pillow. He was so exhausted, and in pain as he felt every cell in his body begin to heal his injuries, the ones on his chest, the ones that killed him being the most painful. He wanted to get up and find Stiles and the others, wanted to fix the damage that had been done to their relationships due to Theo, but he didn’t have the strength right now. So the werewolf closed his eyes and let his exhaustion claim him.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

_Ring! Ring!_

The sound of the phone ringing was what roused Scott from his sleep. He looked over to see that his Mom had put one of the portable phones on his bedside table, and he remembered telling her that his phone had been destroyed by Theo. It was a good thing they still had a landline, otherwise people would have to come over to his house in order to contact him. Until he got a new phone that is.

Wincing, Scott reached over to grab the phone and answered it with a hoarse, “Hello.”

Scott barely registered his Mom’s reply after he heard the words _Sheriff_ , _hurt_ , _hospital_ , and _Stiles_. He immediately told her that he would be right there, then hung up and got off the bed to get changed. When his muscles continued protesting his movement, Scott looked down and clamped his mouth shut to keep from gagging.

The wounds from Theo’s claws, the ones made when the chimera had clawed his heart, were still there, completely open and exposed. Though only sign that any healing had taken place at all, was the fact that they weren’t bleeding anymore. Scott wondered if he looked close enough, if he could actually see his heart still beating.

Brushing off the thought and the pain, the werewolf quickly grabbed a shirt from his dresser, put it on, and headed downstairs and outside to his bike. For a second, he wondered if he should be driving his bike after what happened, since he was still incredibly sore and a little light headed. But as it was either taking the bike or walking, he decided to take the bike.

Soon, the Alpha found himself walking through the hospital doors. He went over to the information desk, and was told to head to the third floor. Focusing on making sure that he was walking without stumbling, and without gasping in pain. Ever since he got out of bed, it had been getting worse, but Scott tried to ignore it. He had to find his best friend.

It wasn’t that hard to find him. The teenager was sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room down the hall, hands clenched together in front of him. Even from a distance, Scott could see the tear tracks on Stiles’s cheeks and Scott’s heart throbbed in pain at the sight. For a minute, he stood there staring, but only seconds after he arrived, the human looked up and saw the werewolf.

“Stiles.” Scott mumbled his name and started to walk towards him while Stiles also stood up and came over to him. Scott however stopped when he saw the furious expression on his friend’s face and that the way he was walking looked to be almost like he was charging him.

“WHERE WERE YOU SCOTT?” Stiles yelled as he grabbed Scott’s coat with his fists and pushed him to the ground. The minute he was down on his back, Stile, who had fallen down with him, punched him in the face. Two of the nurses who were in the vicinity immediately came over and grabbed Stiles’s arms to keep him from doing anything more to the other teenager.

“You trusted him! Said we could trust him! So where were you?” Stiles demanded as he was pulled off the werewolf by the two nurses. Melissa, who was also there as she was coming to update Stiles on his Dad, was instantly by her son’s side and helping him up to his feet.

“Hey! Hey! Knock it off!” Melissa ordered, glaring at Stiles before looking back at Scott who was also back on his feet, shifting uncomfortably. Whether it was from pain or from the awkwardness of the situation, she didn’t know, but she didn’t say anything to draw attention to it.

“You’re Dad’s not the only one who got hurt Stiles.” Scott told him. He had no idea that Stiles’s Dad had even been attacked until he got the phone call from his Mom, had no idea that Theo would be going after him. He would’ve stopped it if he could.

“Oh you’ll heal.” Stiles stated with angry and uncaring tone. Scott tried not to let it get to him, Stiles had ever right to be mad at him, and he didn’t know how bad he had actually been injured.

“Is your Dad okay?” Scott asked as the nurses that were still holding on to Stiles let him go since he appeared to have calmed down a bit.

“He’s still in surgery. So far though, he’s still hanging in there.” His Mom answered.

“No thanks to you.” Stiles spat, fighting the urge to again push Scott to the ground and punch him more.

“Stiles,” Melissa started to speak to him, and Stiles was surprised to hear that she seemed upset too.

“No Mom, it’s okay.” Scott interrupted, not wanting to start another fight with his best friend. They’d been fighting enough lately, and fighting would not help fix their already broken relationship.

“Nothing is okay.” Stiles told him. He then took a step backwards and said, “Just go,” before he turned around and walked back towards the waiting room. Melissa moved to follow him, but felt her son place his hand on her shoulder and turned back to face him.

“Mom, forget it.” Scott stopped her. They had already made a bit of scene and he did not want to cause another. Melissa looked like she was about to disagree with him, so Scott changed the subject, “I’m going to see if I can track Theo, keep him from doing anymore damage tonight. Stay with Stiles.”

“But Scott,” Melissa immediately started to protest. Her son had literally died only a few hours ago and was clearly still in pain despite his attempts to hide it. There was no way she wanted him to throw himself back into danger at all, let alone so soon.

“Mom, he doesn’t want me around, but he doesn’t have anyone else right now. He needs you more than I do. And, I can’t let Theo do any more harm than he already has.” Scott explained.

“Please, be careful.” Melissa pleaded, terrified of what could happen to her son if he did meet up with Theo again. All of her instincts told her to take her son back home and wrap him in the blankets they had and lock him safely in his room, but she knew that Scott wouldn’t let her. His desire to help his friends and protect everyone would always overrule any survival instinct he had.

“I will.” Scott promised. He quickly hugged his Mom, then looked over to see Stiles pacing in the waiting room anxiously. Scott did want to go and be with his best friend, but he knew that he was in no way welcome right now, just as he told his mother. Without another word, Scott headed back to the elevators to leave the building so he could track down Theo.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott slowly walked through the woods, somewhat getting Theo’s scent in the area, but it was faint and he was having a hard time following it. Not to mention, the wound on his chest was beginning to throb painfully and his muscles were starting to feel heavy, making it more difficult to move. Maybe he should have just gone home and rest, he clearly wasn’t up to hunting down a werewolf chimera right now, but the Alpha reminded himself that odds were, no one else was doing it right now, which left only him to figure out what Theo was up to and stopping him. He couldn’t let him get away with any more than he already had.

Scott continued to press on, determined not to let his injuries stop him from dealing with the new threat to his pack and the town, but stopped when he heard a quiet whimper. He looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

“Who’s there?” Scott called out. For a few seconds, there was silence, but it was broken by another whimper. Using his werewolf eyes to see better in the dark, Scott was shocked to see a human figure lying on the ground. He rushed over to see who it was and if they were okay, when he realized that he recognized who it was, the red hair being a dead give away.

“Oh my G*d. Lydia?”


	3. More Problems

Scott immediately rushed over to where Lydia was lying on the ground, falling to his knees as he reached her side. Her eyes were closed, and she was shivering. The werewolf turned her onto her back so he could examine her better. Her skin was ice-cold to the touch.

“Lydia! Lydia, wake up.” Scott ordered, gently shaking her shoulders to wake up her up, his concern for the banshee mounting by the second.

“Ugh.” Lydia moaned, slowly turning her head in his direction.

“Lydia? Come on, wake up.” Scott repeated, still shaking her a little. Very slowly, the redhead opened her brown eyes and stared up at him.

“Scott?” Lydia whispered hoarsely. Scott ceased shaking her, letting out a small sigh of relief as he nodded.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Scott said before asking, “Are you okay?”

“I think so.” Lydia answered as Scott slipped an arm under her shoulders and gently lifted her into a sitting position, holding her close so she could get some of his body heat.

“Are you hurt?” Scott then questioned, looking her over for any sign of injury.

“I’m okay, but my neck hurts a bit.” Lydia told him, bringing her left hand up towards her neck. Scott moved the hand that wasn’t wrapped one the young woman and pushed her long hair away from her neck to get a look. He easily spotted the blood on her skin, surrounding the punctures that were obviously caused by claws.

“What happened?” Scott demanded, furious that she had been attacked in such a manner. Accessing someone’s memories that way is extremely dangerous, especially if that person has no idea what he, or she, was doing.

“Theo. It was Theo.” Scott felt his blood boil as well as the guilt in his stomach become heavier as Lydia finished, “He clawed my neck, he wanted to know where the Nemeton was.”

“You’re freezing. Come on, we need to get you home.” Scott told her, still feeling the coldness of her skin and her shivering against him. As he helped the redhead up to her feet however, she shook her head.

“No, I’m okay. There’s something else.” Lydia stopped as she tried to steady herself. Scott’s arm stayed around her shoulders just in case she was about to fall.

“What?” Scott pressed a little, needing to know what all happened with her while he was trapped in the library.

“Before he clawed my neck I,” Lydia tried to recall what happened before Theo attacked her. The memories were slowly coming back, not as fast as she liked though.

“You what?” Scott asked gently, not wanting to push too much as he didn’t know what damage Theo could’ve done to her when he accessed her memories. There was no way to know for sure that Theo even knew how to do something like that.

“I felt someone was going to die, I think. In the library.” Lydia struggled to remember. Scott immediately tensed up.

Lydia was banshee, banshees predict death, and Lydia was a d*mn good and powerful one. He should’ve realized that she would have predicted something happening. When he was lying on the stairs in the library, right before he died there was a brief moment where he wondered how everyone would find out about his death, if they even would. There was the possibility that someone, Parrish, would steal his body like the others and he might just be declared missing. But he knew that Lydia would know for sure if he was dead or not. Apparently not.

“Don’t worry about that right now, let’s get you home.” Scott told her before looking away so she wouldn’t see the nervous expression on his face. He didn’t want her to know that it was his death that she predicated. But when she grabbed his arm and he looked back to face her, he knew that she had already figured it out.

“It was you. You were going to die.” Lydia revealed with horror and shock. Scott gave her a reassuring smile to hide that her prediction was correct.

“Well I didn’t. It was a little close, but I’m okay.” Scott assured her. Lydia didn’t look to convinced but she didn’t say anything, so he took that as a win, at least for now.

“Now, come on. I’ll take you home.” Scott offered, moving to help her walk as she still looked a little unsteady on her feet. Lydia however, planted her feet to the ground.

“No, we have to find the Nemeton, we need to get there before Theo.” Lydia insisted before adding, “And there’s a chance Parrish might be there too.”

“Parrish?” The banshee had told him that Theo was looking for the Nemeton, but he had no idea that the deputy was out here as well, or why he was even out here.

“I figured out what he is. He’s a hellhound.” Lydia revealed.

“A what?” Scott questioned. The only time he had ever heard about hellhounds was in a movie or something, but he had no idea what exactly they were and that they even existed.

“Hellhound. They’re creatures that apparently are guardians of the supernatural, and are bearers of death.” Lydia explained as much as she could remember, though she didn’t fully understand what they exactly were or supposed to do. It was, after all, something that neither of them had dealt with before.

“That’s comforting, that we have one of those.” Scott replied, though he himself wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not. On one hand, having a supernatural guardian sounded kind of like a good thing, but on the other hand, having a bearer of death was not so good.

“But it explains why Parrish has been having dreams about people dying.” Lydia pointed out.

“But what does the Nemeton have to do with it?” Scott wondered, a deep, thoughtful expression on his face, clearly trying to put the pieces together.

“I’m not sure yet. Either way, we have to find it.” Lydia told him, then started walking more into the trees. When she realized that Scott wasn’t behind her, she turned around and asked, “Are you coming?”

 **TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott and Lydia walked mostly in silence. Lydia was completely focused in finding the Nemeton, and Scott was focused on just putting one foot in front of the other. The pain in his chest was starting to get worse, most likely from his moving around when he should’ve been resting, but there wasn’t any time for that right now. Hayden was dead, Stiles’s Dad was in the hospital, he had no idea where Liam was and if he was okay, and Theo had attacked Lydia and was now looking for the Nemeton. They had to figure out what the chimera was doing and stop him before he hurt or killed someone else.

As the two continued their trek deeper into the trees, Scott thought about the Nemeton. Stiles had told him after they went to Eichen House that it was their fault all of this was happening. That their sacrifice to find their parents and stop the Darach brought power back to the Nemeton and that the Dread Doctors were now using it. If he was right, then they were indeed responsible for everything that happened since their arrival. The darkness that still circled Scott’s heart seemed a little darker at thought.

He still didn’t fully understand how the Nemeton worked, what its part was in the supernatural or how the Dread Doctors were using it, and apparently, neither did Lydia. And if Lydia didn’t even know or understand the Nemeton’s part in everything, how it worked or why, then there was way that Scott would probably figure it out. It was then Lydia suddenly stumbled.

“Whoa.” Lydia mumbled as she placed her hand on a nearby tree to steady herself. Immediately, Scott was at her side, his larger hand on her shoulder.

“You okay?” Scott asked worriedly. She still looked way too pale and still shivered slightly even though he had given her his jacket earlier, saying the he was okay with just his sweater.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. Just got a little dizzy there for a second.” Lydia assured him.

“I still think I should take you home.” Scott stated. Lydia though shook her head, just like he knew she would.

“I’m fine, just need a minute.” The banshee told the werewolf. Scott sighed, but nodded.

The Alpha took a few steps away, letting Lydia take all the time she needed while he looked around for any sign of the Nemeton, Theo, or Parrish. Hearing a very slight rustling, Scott turned to see if he could either see, hear, or smell what it was, wincing as his muscles protested the movement. When he smelled it was just a rabbit, he relaxed.

“Are you okay?” Lydia suddenly asked, causing Scott to turn his attention back to her.

“What?” Scott asked, as he didn’t fully hear her question.

“You winced. Are you alright?” Lydia explained before repeating her earlier question, her eyes traveling up and down examining him, looking for any clue or hint that something was wrong with the young Alpha.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scott answered, though from the slight disbelief in the banshee’s brown eyes, she didn’t believe him.

He wasn’t surprised though. Since she had predicted his death, and she wasn’t usually wrong about her predictions, Lydia would be suspicious, especially since he wasn’t a really good liar. As he felt his skin begin to crawl with the way she was studying him and a little nervous that not only would she discover that he was injured, but that he actually did die, Scott turned his head to examine their surroundings.

Even though it was still pretty dark out, Scott could see alright. The super-moon was shining brightly, lighting up the forest a bit, though not as much as it was outside the cover of the trees. The branches filled with leaves made a bit of a canopy over top the two teenagers, so it still was darker then it normally would’ve been. So, Scott let his eyes turn red so he could see better. It was then he noticed something strange in the distance.

“Scott?” Lydia called out, wondering what had suddenly captured his attention.

“I think I see something, just beyond those trees.” Scott told her, pointing to the left of where they were standing. Lydia immediately pushed herself up off the tree.

“Let’s go.” She said and started heading down the direction Scott had been pointing at. Scott quickly caught up to her and together, they made their way through the next set of trees.

Once they did, they both stopped at stared. Behind the level of trees they just passed, was a small clearing that Scott instantly recognized even though it had been over a year since he had last seen in it. The large tree stump

“Oh my G*d.” Scott exclaimed in horror at the sight of the bodies surrounding the gigantic tree stump before turning back to Lydia.

“Call the police. Now.”


	4. Banshee Predictions

About a half an hour later, the clearing was filled with cops and coroners. They were quick to respond when Lydia called them about finding the bodies in the forest. Once they had arrived, they immediately got to work in identifying the bodies and started to move them out of the clearing and down to the vehicles to transport them to the coroner’s office. When the police officer in charge questioned the two seniors as to why they were there, Lydia was quick to lie, saying that her dog, Prada has escaped from her yard and they were out looking for her.

“What it is?” Scott asked as he came back to Lydia’s side after talking to the police officer that was in charge since the Sheriff was in the hospital and Parrish was AWOL, backing Lydia’s story. That reminded Scott, he needed to let Lydia know what happened to Stiles’s father.

“There’s only four bodies here. There are a lot more dead and/or missing than that. Where are they?” Lydia revealed, examining the clearing as though she thought they might be hidden in the trees.

“I have no clue, but at least the families for these four will be able to give them a proper burial.” Scott said. While he knew that the other bodies needed to be found, they couldn’t do it tonight. It was almost three in the morning, and he was exhausted. His still healing injuries were throbbing again and he was starting to feel like he was about to collapse any minute.

“Scott,” The worried tone in Lydia’s voice immediately captured Scott’s attention, “it’s Theo.”

The Alpha looked over to see where Lydia was looking, and saw that it was indeed Theo, standing on the far side of the clearing, just a little ways away from the police. Once the chimera met Scott’s hard and furious gaze, the poker face dropped, replaced by absolute shock and a bit of fear as he realized that Scott was somehow alive. Quickly collecting himself, Theo stalked over towards them.

“Admiring your handiwork?” Scott inquired, moving to stand just a little in front of Lydia, ready to protect her should Theo try something, though he doubted the chimera would.

“You know as well as I that I had nothing to do with their deaths.” Theo insisted, obviously trying to get over the shock of seeing him alive. Scott though wasn’t going to give him a chance to question it, not in front of Lydia.

“I don’t know that, nor do I believe you.” The Alpha replied, his eyes and voice hard at the chimera who he was actually starting to consider a friend before he was so ruthlessly betrayed. Though he wasn’t sure if Theo had been the one who killed them, he was sure that Theo had some part to play in their deaths. After all, if Theo was a chimera, then he had to know the Dread Doctors, and it was them who created and were now hunting them.

Apparently, Theo couldn’t bare not knowing how Scott was no longer dead because he suddenly demanded, “How on Earth are you alive?”

“Easy, you failed.” Theo’s eyes flashed angrily when Scott said that, but Scott just smiled as he continued, “Don’t take it too personally. You’re not the first, and you probably won’t be the last.”

“I don’t get it.” Theo responded, voice filled with frustration.

“What’s there to get? You had some stupid plan, thought it was going to be easy, and it wasn’t. So, you’ve got some problems now.” Scott told him, as though he was stating a fact.

“So do you.” Theo replied, a smug smiled replacing the expression of anger and confusion. When he saw Scott’s questioning gaze, he titled his head to the side, telling the Alpha to look in that direction. Scott did, knowing that Theo wasn’t stupid enough to make a move on him with the police around, and felt his heart nearly stop with shock when he saw Hayden, Tracy, Josh, and Corey standing by the edge of the trees watching them.

“What did you do?” Scott demanded, making sure his voice sounded threatening. Though he could smell a hint of fear from the chimera, Theo only grinned cockily. 

“I brought them back. I figured since I couldn’t take your pack, I’d just have to make one of my own.” Theo explained, sounding quite proud of himself. Scott glanced over at the four younger teenagers that were still waiting by the edge of the clearing. They looked a little dazed and scared.

“You really think they’re going to stay with a psychopath?” Scott asked once he looked back at Theo.

“I think I brought them back from the dead and they owe me, and they know it.” Theo shot back, the smile still spread across his face.

“Whatever game you’re playing, whatever plan you have, you’re not going to get away with it.” Scott threatened. Again, the Alpha smelled a hint of fear coming from the teenager, but Theo continued playing it cool. 

“We’ll see.” Theo replied, before turning around and walking back to the four chimeras waiting for him. Scott continued glaring at Theo’s back as he got further and further away.

Though he knew that putting his own pack together was going to be hard, Theo’s confirmation that he wasn’t done yet told Scott that it was going to be harder than he thought, especially with now having Hayden with him. That would really cause problems with Liam, and if Theo decided to go against Scott and his pack again while they were still divided, he doubted they would all make it out alive.

“Scott?” Lydia’s voice broke the high school senior out of his reverie.

“Come on. It’s really late. I’ll take you home.” Scott finally spoke up. Without giving her a chance to stop him or question him, he turned around and started heading out of the clearing and back into the trees towards the road where he parked his bike. The sound of crunching leaves and branches, as well as the smell of perfume told Scott that Lydia was indeed following him.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Again, the banshee and the werewolf walked through the woods in silence, though this time they were walking out towards the road where Scott had parked his bike instead of walking deeper into the forest. And this time, the silence was different. Scott was still a little unnerved by the sight of Theo showing up and the fact that he apparently had brought four of the teenagers back to life somehow, including Hayden, and was making them his pack.

Lydia however, was more unnerved by what Theo had said, and was slowly putting the pieces together. She waited until they reached Scott’s bike when she called out, “Scott?”

“Yeah?” Scott wondered, turning around to face her, standing beside his dirt bike.

“I predicted your death. Theo was shocked to see you. He asked how you are alive.” Lydia listed, slowly walking closer to him. From the slightly fearful expression in Scott’s eyes and the clenching of his jaw, she knew she was on to something.

“Lydia,” Scott started, about to either brush off her thoughts, or to warn her to stop, she didn’t know because she wasn’t going to give him the chance to finish.

“Tell me the truth Scott. Did, did he kill you?” Lydia demanded with a hard tone, though she could feel tears gathering in her eyes at the thought that her friend had actually been killed tonight.

“Yes.” Scott finally replied, lowering his head as he continued, “I was dead for 15 minutes. My Mom brought me back.”

“Oh my G*d.” The expression escaped Lydia’s mouth before she covered with her hand. Once she had somewhat recovered from the initial shock though, she blinked back the tears that were still threatening to fall and asked, “Why did you lie to me then?”

Scott brought up his hand to rub his nose, sighed, then turned around and walked a few feet away from her. Despite the distance, she could hear the deep breaths he was taking, the sigh the he released before he turned back to face her, revealing that he himself was struggling to keep it together just like she was.

“Because, I don’t want anyone to know. I’ve already let Theo rip us about. Kira’s gone. Malia isn’t really talking to any of us. Liam tried to kill me when I didn’t bite Hayden and now she’s dead but alive now thanks to Theo, and Stiles hates me. If they knew that Theo managed to kill me,” Scott broke off, looking down at the ground again.

Lydia waited patiently for Scott to collect himself. She hadn’t seen him struggle to keep control of his emotions like this, not since Allison died, and even then, he pulled himself together long enough to defeat the Nogitsune before he finally cried. She didn’t really count the time at the hotel as he was under the effects of wolfsbane, but it had been heartbreaking. And seeing him on the verge of tears over everything that’s happened to him and their friends was also beginning to break her heart. After a minute, Scott again looked up at her, the tears still in his eyes, but they weren’t falling. Not yet anyways.

“Given everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if our friends want nothing to do with me. But if they knew that I wasn’t even strong to keep myself alive, how are they going to think I’m strong enough to keep _them_ alive? Or to stop Theo and the Dread Doctors?” When she heard him ask that, Lydia came over to him and put her hand on his arm.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Lydia told him. Scott rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe away the tears that were still there as she added, “I know I usually predict death and chaos, but I know that we will get through this, that you will get through this. Scott, you’re the strongest person I know.”

Scott finally looked into Lydia’s eyes when she said that. When he saw the encouraging smile on her face and the sincerity in her eyes, he managed to give her a small smile back. He still wasn’t sure if whether or not he and his pack would get through their problems, and he in no way believed that he was as strong as Lydia thought he was, but it was nice to hear that someone thought so, even though it made him terrified that he might let her down like he let the others down. It was then Scott realized that another person now knew about his death.

“Lydia, please don’t tell anyone about what Theo did. My Mom and Mason know, but I don’t want anyone else to.” Scott pleaded. Another reason that he didn’t want anyone to know, one that he didn’t tell her, was that if his friends, his pack were going to come back to him, he wanted them to come because they wanted too. Not because they felt guilty for not saving his life, or because they felt like he couldn’t do it without them. He wanted it to be on their terms.

“If they don’t need to know, I won’t say anything. But if they do need to,” Lydia stopped, giving him a look that told him that she would tell if she believed they needed to know. It was one of the very few Lydia expressions Scott could actually read.

“I can’t think why they would need to, but if you think they do then, go ahead.” Scott gave her permission, even though he knew that if he hadn’t and she still felt the need to tell them, she would. He started walking back towards the bike when he felt Lydia again grab his arm.

“Hey,” Lydia said as he turned back around to face her. Once he was, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug, whispering, “we’ll get them back.”

Scott hugged her back, feeling somewhat comforted for the first time since his Mom had brought him back. Both his Mom and Mason were too stunned to realize that he had just come back to life and too focused on making sure he wasn’t in danger of dying again to really give him much comfort. After a minute though, Scott pulled away from the redhead.

“Come on. Should get you home before your Mom sends out a search party.” The Alpha told her. Lydia nodded, but didn’t say anything as she waited for Scott to get on the bike before she climbed on behind him, putting on his helmet as she did so. Once the helmet was on and Lydia had her arms wrapped around Scott’s waist, Scott started the bike and drove in the direction of Lydia’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just letting you guys know, that despite what it could be taken as, this is not a Scott/Lydia fic. I love their friendship, but I don’t ship them romantically. I just find that Lydia is actually a very caring and supportive person and that if she would see Scott, or anyone else on edge of breaking down like Scott was, she would comfort him. That’s all she’s doing. And I honestly think she was probably the most mature person of the group. So, sorry to all Scott/Lydia fans. It’s not that kind of story.


	5. Anger is Destruction

Scott’s plan was to take Lydia home before heading home himself to get some much-needed sleep. But when they got to her house, Lydia pulled out her phone as she had felt it vibrate in her pocket during the trip. It was a text from Stiles telling her that he was at the hospital and asked if she could come.

When Lydia asked Scott if he knew about it, Scott remembered that he still hadn’t told her about the sheriff. They had been so focused on finding the Nemeton and then finding it, and Theo, and everything, Scott kept forgetting to tell her. The pain in his chest and exhaustion didn’t help his brain work either. Once she knew, Lydia insisted that they had to go to the hospital. Even though Scott was tired, he also wanted to check in on Stiles and his Dad, so they headed over to the hospital on Scott’s bike as Lydia’s car was still at the school.

Since Scott had already been at the hospital earlier that night, he knew exactly where to go, and led the redhead to the floor where his Mom and Stiles were. When they reached the right floor, the two instantly spotted Melissa behind the desk, who had looked up when she heard the elevator doors open.

“Mom, how’s the sheriff?” Scott asked the second he had reached her, Lydia following right behind him.

“The surgery was a success. He’s going to be okay.” Melissa informed the two with a smile. The teenagers both released a massive sigh of relief.

“That’s good. That’s great.” Scott replied, finally feeling like something was going right for the first time that night.

“Where’s Stiles?” Lydia questioned, not seeing their friend in the main waiting area.

“With is Dad, in the room just over there.” Melissa answered, pointing to the room at the beginning of the hallway. Lydia immediately turned and headed towards the room, but before Scott could follow, he caught the worried and warning look his Mom was giving him. He knew that it most likely meant that Stiles was still upset with him, but he still followed Lydia into the hospital room.

“Stiles?” Lydia called out quietly as they entered the room. The teenager was sitting on the chair beside the bed where his Dad laid, completely out cold which wasn’t surprising if he just got out of surgery.

“Hey Lydia.” Stiles greeted with a tired voice, giving her a small, grateful smile. He dropped it though when he saw that she wasn’t alone.

“Hey, how are you?” Lydia wondered with a concerned tone, going over to her friend and placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Well, my Dad is going to be okay,” Stiles paused, shooting Scott a glare that clearly said _no thanks to you_ , before finishing, “so, doing good, considering.”

No one said anything for a minute as Stiles continued to glare at Scott. The Alpha had hoped that giving his best friend a few hours to calm down, and with the knowledge that his Dad was okay, that they could finally talk about everything that happened, but Stiles was making it clear he was not welcome at all.

“I’m going to go check on my Mom.” Scott excused himself from the room, not wanting to make Stiles anymore upset with him than he already was. After all, he texted Lydia and asked her not come, not him.

“Stiles, what’s wrong?” Lydia asked once the door had closed behind Scott. She quickly figured out that Stiles was furious with Scott, the werewolf having told her earlier that he believed his best friend hated him, but she had no idea why.

“What’s wrong? What’s not wrong? Scott trusted Theo and now my Dad is lying in the hospital.” Stiles replied angrily, though kept his voice fairly quiet out of fear that he might wake his Dad even though he knew that he was still sleeping off the sedative that he had been given.

“While Scott may have trusted Theo, that doesn’t make him liable for Theo’s actions.” Lydia told him. Stiles scoffed slightly, turning his head to look at his Dad instead of Lydia.

“Do you really think that if Scott kept Theo out of the pack that he couldn’t have hurt your Dad? Couldn’t have hurt anyone?” Lydia questioned. After all, they had been hurt by several people who weren’t a part of their pack, yet Stiles never blamed Scott for any of that.

“It would have made sure we were all on our guard around him. That we would’ve kept an eye on him. We could’ve figured out what he was doing.” Stiles pointed out, glancing back at the redhead.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Lydia replied with a simple tone. Stiles didn’t say anything to that, instead, just looking back at his Dad with a worried and hurt expression. Seeing the expression as plain as day on Stiles’s face, Lydia again put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention and crouched down so they were eye level.

“There’s something else going on between the two of you. What is it?” Lydia asked gently. Stiles thought about it for a moment, then took a breath and began to tell her.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Once Scott had left the hospital room, he went over to the desk to talk to his Mom, only to find that she wasn’t there. Knowing that it was most likely because she was busy with another patient or something, he went over to the main waiting area and sat down, letting out a sigh as his muscles finally had a chance to relax after hours of him pushing his injured and exhausted body to the near limit. As his exhaustion started to claim him, Scott closed his eyes.

“Scott, I thought you were with Stiles and Lydia.” Scott’s eyes snapped open and he immediately sat up despite his protesting muscles when he heard his Mom’s voice. He turned his head to the left to see that she was standing by his side.

“Thought I would let them talk. Stiles doesn’t want me around right now.” Scott replied as his Mom sat down in the chair beside him.

“What is going on between the two of you?” Melissa finally questioned. She had known that there was something going on between the two friends for a while, but had decided to just let the two of them work it out themselves. She never thought it would get this bad though.

“All I know is something bad happened and Stiles didn’t tell me about it. Theo did, but considering it’s Theo, I’m going to assume that it wasn’t the right story. But what made it worse was that when I went to talk to Stiles about it, he didn’t deny anything, so I have no idea what’s going on.” Scott explained as best as he could without giving the full story. He knew that whatever happened with Stiles and Donovan, wasn’t his story, especially when he didn’t know the real events of what happened.

“Well, you two aren’t going to get it figured out until you guys actually talk to each other.” Melissa told him.

“I know, but I think he just needs some time to cool down a little. He’s pretty angry.” Scott didn’t need to tell her the last part. Having seen the teenager knock her injured son to the ground and punch him in the face, she knew that Stiles was beyond angry. She had never seen him act like that, much less to his best friend.

“I can’t believe Theo actually went after Stiles’s Dad like that though.” Scott suddenly spoke up. While he now knew how ambitious and diabolical the chimera was, he never thought he was bold enough to attack the sheriff, who happened to be the father of the only teenager who figured out there was something wrong with him. 

“I don’t think it was Theo who did.” Melissa said quietly, though with his werewolf hearing, he easily caught it.

“What?” Scott asked, not sure what his Mom was getting at. Who else could’ve attacked Stilinski in such a way.

“When Stilinski was in surgery, they pulled out a small piece of bone that had been embedded into his skin during the attack. It wasn’t his.”

“There’s another chimera.” Scott realized. They still had no idea how many chimeras the Dread Doctors had created, much less who they were. It was completely possible one lost control or something and attacked Stilinski.

“I think so.” His Mom confirmed that she had the same thought.

“We’ve got to find him, or her before Theo or the Dread Doctors do.” Scott stated as he started to push himself up off the chair, only for his Mom to grab his arm.

“First, you need to rest.” Melissa said as she stood up herself, still keeping her hand around his bicep.

“But Mom,” Scott started to object only for his Mom to interrupt.

“Scott, you’ve barely slept at all tonight, and you’re hurt. You need to rest and heal. It’s almost 4 in the morning. You can wait a few more hours before you go back out hunting down chimeras. After all, you aren’t going to be any good to them if you collapse from exhaustion.” The nurse pointed out. Realizing that his Mom wasn’t going to back down this time, Scott nodded.

“Alright.” Scott agreed to his mother’s wishes.

Wrapping her arm around her son’s shoulders, Melissa said, “Come on,” and led him towards one of the empty hospital rooms where doctors who were on 24-hour shifts would grab the sleep they could during their shift. 

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

“Let me get this straight. You warned all of us to be wary of Theo, then while trying to escape from Donovan, you accidentally killed him, and Theo found out about it, and then you trusted him not to say anything despite the fact you thought he wasn’t trustworthy. And now you’re blaming Scott for all of this?” Lydia tried to make sense of what all Stiles just told her, though it was a bit confusing. She didn’t understand Stiles’s reasoning for blaming Scott for what Theo did even though she now had the full story.

“Scott somehow found out about what I did, and he turned against me.” Stiles answered, somewhat summing up what happened in the parking lot of the animal clinic a few nights ago without going into details. Just thinking about that night made him want to cry as he knew that was the night he lost his best friend.

“Who else knew about what happened?” Lydia inquired, trying to figure out what could have happened to explain both sides of the story since Scott wasn’t here and she knew that Stiles was too wound up to listen to him if he was.

“No one. Malia knew something was going on, but she didn’t know what.” Stiles answered, running a hand through his hair.

“You know what that means?” When Stiles stared blankly at her, Lydia explained, “Scott probably found out from Theo. Since we now know that Theo is an evil manipulator who wanted to separate us, do you really think Scott got the real, full story?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that all of this could’ve been avoided if Scott put more trust in me than he did in him.” Stiles replied. He was too tired, too angry, and still too hurt to fully think about everything including the Alpha werewolf. Lydia however, wasn’t ready to let it go quite yet.

“Stiles, if you really think that Scott would ever trust someone over you, you are an idiot. If anything, that tells me that you have less trust in him then you are accusing he has in you.” Lydia told him, her voice tense but gentle at the same time.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Stiles said quietly as he looked over at his Dad who was still fast asleep.

“Okay, fine. Just think about it, okay?” Lydia agreed to drop it under the one condition. Slowly, the senior nodded his head, glancing back over at her.

“There’s something else you need to know.” The banshee decided to tell him everything that she and Scott had discovered earlier that night.

“What?” Stiles asked with an exhausted and frustrated voice.

“Theo somehow brought Tracy, Hayden, Josh and Corey back to life. He’s making them part of his own pack.” Lydia revealed.

“Wait, Hayden died?” The shock was evident in Stiles’s eyes, face, and tone. He had no idea about anything that was happening with Liam’s girlfriend.

“Apparently.” Lydia answered. She gave him a minute to process what she had told him before saying, “Look, Stiles, Theo and the Dread Doctors are still out there, planning who knows what. Despite everything, you and I both know that Scott’s still going to try and stop them. We can’t let him do it alone and we can’t let Theo and the Dread Doctors continue killing everyone and get away with everything they’ve done. We have to work together.”

“Okay. That doesn’t mean I’m still not mad though.” Stiles agreed, albeit reluctantly. He still wasn’t in a mood to do anything involving Scott, but he knew that none of them could take down the Dread Doctors and Theo and his new pack by themselves. 

“Fair enough.” Lydia still didn’t fully get why Stiles was focusing his anger on Scott when she found they were both kind of at fault, though Theo was the main person that should be blamed. But Stiles was clearly deeply hurt by Scott, for whatever reason, she didn’t know, and that it might take him more time to calm down enough to talk about it.

“Have you gotten any sleep?” Lydia wondered when she saw Stiles cover a yawn with his fist.

“No.” Stiles answered honestly.

“Well, you should get some.” Lydia told him, standing up to full height before moving towards the door so she could let Stiles sleep in peace as she knew he wasn’t going to be leaving his father’s side for a while.

“Lydia, do you think you could stay?” Stiles asked as she started opening the door. Lydia looked over at her shoulder, and seeing the vulnerable expression on his face, she nodded and pushed the door closed.

“Of course.” Lydia replied, and headed over to the only other chair that sat in the far corner of the hospital room.

“Thanks.” Stiles said with a yawn. Before Lydia could apply though, she saw that the teenager had already fallen asleep. Hearing the soft snores coming from him, she smiled and shook her head as she made herself comfortable. She wasn’t going anywhere for a while either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little Stydia for all of you Stydia fans. While I am changing what happened in season 5b, I am also trying to keep it as canon as possible while also making sure that it will line up with what happens in season 6 and beyond that.


	6. More Damage

Stiles woke up slowly as a painful crick in his neck made itself known. He didn’t even realize that he had actually fallen asleep at all until he saw the sunlight through the window. Looking around the room, he saw Lydia asleep in the chair in the corner, and Melissa standing by the bed where his Dad stilled laid fast asleep.

“How is he?” Stiles asked the nurse, sitting up straighter in the chair.

“He’s doing well. Everything is normal.” Melissa assured him with a smile, quickly finishing checking the machines and the sheriff’s vitals.

“He awake yet?” Stiles wondered, leaning forward so he could get a better look at his Dad.

“Nope, not yet.” Melissa answered, moving out of the way so that the teenager could get a better view of his father. When he saw that his Dad was indeed still asleep, he leaned back into the chair, letting out an exhausted sigh.

“Did you get some sleep?” Melissa inquired, seeing that he had very slight dark circles under his eyes even though he was asleep when she came into the room only a few minutes earlier.

“A little.” Stiles replied, though he wasn’t exactly sure. He knew it was extremely early in the morning when Lydia and Scott showed up, and he had fallen asleep some time after that.

“What time is it?” Lydia’s groggy voice broke in. Stiles and Melissa immediately looked over at her in slight surprise as they hadn’t realized that she was awake.

“It’s almost 8 in the morning.” Melissa told her, looking down at her watch.

“Wait, where’s Scott? Did he go home?” Lydia suddenly asked when she realized that Scott wasn’t in the room, and she hadn’t seen him at all since he left the hospital room last night so she and Stiles could talk.

“No, he’s asleep in a spare room. Do you want me to get him?” Melissa questioned. Lydia looked over at Stiles to see if he was finally calm enough that he would actually talk to Scott and work with him again. Ultimately, Stiles nodded, though he didn’t look very thrilled.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Melissa responded, then headed out of the room, leaving Stiles and Lydia alone again with the still unconscious sheriff. They didn’t say anything, waiting in silence for the Alpha werewolf to arrive when the door finally opened.

“Hey, how is he?” Scott asked Stiles as he came into the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Your Mom says he’s doing good.” Stiles answered with a still slightly angry tone, refusing to meet his eyes.

“Good.” Scott replied with a small smile. When he saw that his best friend was avoiding looking at him, the werewolf started, “Stiles, about what happened,”

“Look, I’m still really, really, mad at you. But we do still have these chimeras and Dread Doctors to deal with. So, let’s just take care of them.” Stiles immediately interrupted him, finally looking up at Scott, though it was a glare. While he may have gotten to the point where he was willing to work with his friend, that didn’t mean he was anywhere near forgiving his friend, or even talking about the problems the two now had with each other.

“Alright.” Scott agreed before revealing, “I actually have a lead on another chimera.”

“Already?” Lydia inquired, sounding surprised. It had only been a few hours since they arrived at the hospital, and during most of those, the three had been sleeping. Unless of course, Scott slept less than she and Stiles did and figured it out on his own.

“Yeah, the one that attacked your Dad.” Stiles was beyond shocked to hear that. Ever since Theo told him about his Dad being in danger and found him bleeding on the floor, he assumed that it was him who attacked his Dad.

“I thought Theo,” Stiles started only for Scott to interrupt him this time.

“No, he didn’t. My Mom told me that when your Dad was in surgery, they found a piece of bone that wasn’t his. They did a DNA test on it, it wasn’t Theo’s. It belongs to someone else.” Scott informed them. When his Mom woke him up, saying that Stiles and Lydia wanted to see him, she also revealed what she had all found while she was working.

“Who?” Stiles demanded, needing to know who was actually responsible for almost killing his father.

“Noah, Noah Patrick.”

“We got to go find him.” Lydia spoke up, not that she really needed to. All three of them knew that if there was another chimera out there who was not only in danger of being attacked by the Dread Doctors or Theo, but was also a danger to the other citizens of Beacon Hills, they had to track him down. Not only to keep him safe, but also to keep everyone else safe as well.

“We might need more help, especially if the Dread Doctors and Theo are looking for him.” Scott pointed out, glancing from Lydia to Stiles. They’ve already had a hard enough time just dealing with the Dread Doctors, and that was with the entire pack, but the three of them alone, and also facing the possibility of fighting Theo and his ‘pack’, would not end will for them at all.

“Who do we call? Liam?” Stiles wondered, seeing his friend’s point. To his surprise though, Scott shook his head.

“No, um, not him. Not right now.” Scott said, this time being the one avoiding Stiles’s gaze instead of the other way around before asking him, “What about Malia? Do you think you can call her?”

“Um, we’re not really talking right now.” Stiles reluctantly admitted, taking his turn in avoiding his friend’s eyes.

“Why? What happened?” Scott questioned, tone full of concern and surprise. This was the first time he heard anything about his best friend’s problems with his girlfriend.

“None of your business.” Stiles practically growled, looking nearly as angry and defensive as he was when he pushed Scott to the ground and punched him in the face just last night.

“Okay, how about I call her?”

“Do what you want. Just tell us when you’re ready to go.” Stiles grumbled, turning his head to watch his father who still remained completely out cold. He was starting to get worried about him again. He needed him to wake up, he needed his father.

Seeing the worried expression on his best friend’s face, Scott walked out of the room to go make some phone calls so they could get ready to go.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

As Scott left the room, he found his Mom behind the desk, going through some of the papers the littered the surface. Instead of going right over to her though, he leaned back against the wall, and raised a hand to rub his chest slightly. He had hoped that after another few hours of sleep that he would wake up fully healed and fine, just like he usually was. But when he was woken up by his Mom, the ache in his chest from the wounds caused by Theo’s claws hadn’t gotten any better than they were before, though he wasn’t as exhausted as he was before which was good. It meant he had more strength to power through it.

“Mom, can I borrow your phone?” Scott wondered as he pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her. She looked slightly surprised at first, then quickly remembered him telling her how his phone got wrecked while he was fighting with Theo and grabbed her cell phone off the desk.

“Here.” Melissa said as she offered the device to her son.

“Thanks.” Scott replied as he grabbed the phone, then started walking away as he dialed Malia’s cell number before holding it up to his ear.

_“Hello?”_ Scott heard Malia’s cautious answer.

“Malia, it’s Scott.” The Alpha replied, moving down the hall a little for a little more privacy as visiting hours where about to start which meant more people would be arriving at the hospital.

_“Why are you calling me on a different phone?”_ Malia questioned with a confused tone.

“Because my phone got wrecked.” Scott quickly answered before getting to the matter at hand and said, “Listen, I need your help. We found out about another chimera and,”

_“Scott, there’s something that’s come up that I have to deal with,”_

“He attacked Stiles’s Dad. Almost killed him.” Scott cut in, not wanting to give Malia the chance to hang up on him. Even though he still had no idea what was going on between her and Stiles, he knew that there was no way it was bad enough that she no longer cared for the human member of their pack or his father.

_“Is he going to be okay?”_ Malia asked after a moment of stunned silence. Her tone was somewhat monotone, but Scott easily picked up with concern in her voice.

“Yeah, he’ll be in the hospital for a while, but he’s going to be okay.” Scott answered, making sure his voice was reassuring as he didn’t want her to worry for no reason.

_“What about Stiles?”_ Malia then wondered, suddenly realizing the possibility of her boyfriend getting hurt. Or, former boyfriend, or whatever they were now.

“Stiles is fine, he wasn’t there when it happened. Wasn’t hurt at all.” The Alpha told his beta.

_“Where do you want to meet?”_ Scott almost smiled when he heard Malia’s question. If she was still willing to help him out, maybe his relationship with her wasn’t as badly damaged as he feared it was.

“At the school. Just so you are aware though, Stiles and Lydia are coming too.” Scott replied her, not wanting her to be blindsided if she and Stiles were actually fighting or just avoiding each other.

_“Okay.”_ Before Scott could reply, he heard the click on the phone which meant that she had hung up. Scott lowered the phone from his ear and thought for a moment. While having Malia would definitely help them in case if they did run into the Dread Doctors or Theo or both, but was that enough? Another person’s face suddenly came to Scott’s mind and he immediately started dialing another number.

_“Melissa?”_ Scott heard Argent’s deep voice answer.

“No, it’s Scott. Out of curiosity, are you in town or close by, by any chance?”


	7. New and Old

_No one saw how guilty he felt, they only saw his guilt._

_No one saw the pain he was in, they only saw the pain he caused._

_No one realized that he hated himself far more than any hated him._

**\- unknown**

Less than an hour later, Scott, Lydia, and Stiles were at the school, Lydia and Stiles taking his still somewhat wrecked jeep while Scott took his bike. Since they didn’t know where Noah lived, they decided to head to the school, find his locker, and search it for items that would have his scent on it. That way, they would be able to track it.

The werewolf, human, and banshee broke into the school office upon arrival to find out which locker belonged to the chimera they were looking for. Lydia managed to get in to the school system to find it and wrote it down on a piece of paper before leading the other two teenagers out of the office and into the hallway.

“This is his locker?” Scott asked Lydia, pointing to one in the middle of the hall.

“Yup.” Lydia confirmed, glancing down at the piece of paper in her hand. Luckily for them, Noah had left his locker unlocked, so they didn’t have to worry of wrecking it to get in. Searching through it, Scott quickly found a sweater and a gym bag.

“Got a sweater and,” Scott told the other two, pausing as he opened the gym bag and looked through it before pulling out a shirt, “a gym shirt.”

Suddenly hearing the door to the school open, the three teenagers looked over to see who was coming into the building, all looking a little startled as it was the weekend, no one was supposed to be there. They all breathe a silent of relief when they saw that it was Malia.

“Hey Malia.” Malia didn’t reply as she approached. She only held out her hand for a piece of the clothing. Giving her the sweater while he took the shirt, the Alpha said, “Here, let’s go.”

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

With both Scott and Malia being able to track Noah’s scent, the two werewolves quick caught it and led Stiles and Lydia towards the missing chimera. It seemed though, from the way that Noah had apparently moved, he had gone all over the place. Either the teenager was a very busy person with stuff to do all over the town, or he was already being hunted and was running for his life.

Soon though, they realized they were starting to catch up to him when they tracked his scent to an old warehouse. When the four seniors went inside though, there was no sign of Noah, and the scent suddenly got a lot weaker, the smell of rot, musk, and old chemicals masking it. Scott was glad that he had called Malia for help when he smelled that.

Though she had a bit of trouble learning how to track people using their scent, she had caught on rather quickly, her time as a coyote seemed to have helped her hone the skill much easier than Scott had. And with the Alpha mostly concentrating on moving without wincing in pain so he wouldn’t worry his friends, it helped track down Noah a lot faster.

When they got to the warehouse though and suddenly realized that the other scents were masking the chimera’s, both Scott and Malia were having a hard time picking it up. So, the werewolves went further into the building to see if they could pick it up again while Lydia and Stiles looked for other clues that Noah actually had been here. After all, it was very possible that Noah had just ran past the building without going inside.

“Is everything okay?” Scott asked Malia quietly, so Stiles and Lydia wouldn’t hear. If there was something wrong, which he knew there was, and if she was going to tell him, he was sure she wouldn’t want Lydia and Stiles to listen in.

“Everything’s fine.” Malia insisted, refusing to look over at Scott because she knew that if she did, he would manage to see behind her heavily fortified walls and learn what really was wrong with her. Learn that she was actually upset with what was happening between her and Stiles and that she was actually hunting down her mother to kill her.

“What’s going on with you and Stiles?” Scott pushed a little. He was worried about her since she had been so distant lately. The only person she seemed comfortable talking with was Stiles, and now they were avoiding each other.

“We kinda broke up.” Malia decided to tell him, thinking that maybe if she gave him an answer, he would back off.

“We kinda broke up too.” Scott told her before adding, “Look, if you ever want to talk,”

“Scott, I’m here, and I’ll help out, but please don’t ask me to talk.” Malia requested, keeping her head still so she could continue to look straight ahead instead of looking over at the werewolf.

“Okay.” Scott responded. They stood in silence for another few minutes, still trying to find Noah’s scent again when Stiles’s broke in.

“Guys! We found something.” Stiles called out to the werewolf and werecoyote who instantly turned around and while Scott went over to where Lydia and Stiles crouching down, inspecting a spot on the ground, Malia continued to search for a scent. Scott crouched down beside his two other friends and looked at the spot, which appeared to be a liquid metal.

“Mercury.” Scott realized. 

“That means the Dread Doctors are definitely hunting him down.” Lydia said. They all knew that the mercury was a sign of the chimeras rejecting whatever the Dread Doctors did to them and were dying. They were considered failures to the Doctors who would then hunt them down and kill them.

“I’m getting a scent over here.” Malia chimed in, having walked further into the building, towards the back. Scott, Stiles, and Lydia all stood up and walked over to her, wondering what she had found.

Scott quickly picked up the scent again, slightly stronger than it was before, but enough to know that Noah had definitely been in the warehouse. And when they saw what Malia was standing in front of, they knew where he had gone next. There in the ground, was a manmade hole with a ladder, leading into what appeared to be a tunnel.

The werewolf bit back a frustrated sigh, remembering how he, and the others had tried to find Liam and Hayden in the sewer tunnels a few weeks ago, and how they failed. He knew that finding someone in the tunnels would be extremely difficult with all the other scents down there, but he also knew that they had to try. So, Scott moved forward, got down closer to the ground, and climbed down the ladder into the tunnel. If Stiles, Lydia, and Malia had an objection to going down, they didn’t say anything, they just followed the Alpha down the ladder and into the tunnel.

The tunnels were dark, the only light coming dying lightbulbs that were well spread apart. Scott and Malia though let their eyes turn red and blue so they could see better, while Stiles and Lydia stayed very close behind them, not wanting to get lost in the dark labyrinth. They walked like that for at least ten minutes before something changed.

“You hear that?” Malia asked, stopping abruptly in her tracks. The other three immediately stopped when Malia did, Stiles and Lydia suddenly getting worried while Scott focused his hearing. It was subtle at first, but then Scott heard it, the hum of electricity getting stronger, and the sound off footsteps on the concrete.

“Oh crap.” Scott muttered as the Dread Doctors suddenly appeared, turning into the tunnel they were in from another that was about 10 feet in front of them. Malia didn’t wait at all for anything before she charged them, growling loudly as she did so.

“Get out of here!” Scott shouted over the sound of his beta fighting the Doctors before he too rushed to join the fight, needing to help Malia.

The banshee and the human hesitated ever so slightly as they didn’t want to leave their friends to fight the Dread Doctors alone, but they also knew that they wouldn’t be much help, especially since Stiles didn’t even have his baseball bat. So, the two ran back down the tunnels towards the ladder they had climbed down from.

While they were doing that, Scott and Malia continued throwing punch after punch, kick after kick, but like their fights with the Doctors before, they had no effect. They were thrown to the ground, also being punched and kicked. Scott could feel the injury on his chest being pulled open again, blood starting to soak his shirt. Luckily though, the jacket he was wearing was zipped up all the way, hiding the injury.

Knowing that they were unable to truly fight the Doctors, Malia and Scott quickly got back to their feet and ran down another tunnel, leading them away from where Stiles and Lydia had gone. Once they were a bit ahead of the Dread Doctors, they stopped to catch their breath, both of them were fighting and running hard, and were both a little weakened from the blows they had received from the fighting. Scott was trying to tape into his strength, needing more in order to stay alive and keep Malia alive when he heard the extremely quiet footsteps coming up behind them, the sound and the smell of the person familiar to the Alpha.

“We’re going to die down here.” Malia told him, staring at the spot where they could hear the Dread Doctors were coming from. She was so focused on them that she didn’t hear or smell what Scott did, nor did she know about how he made two phone calls that morning instead of just one.

“No we aren’t.” Scott replied confidently, causing Malia to look back over at him in confusion and disbelief.

“How do you know?” Malia asked, trying to understand how the Alpha could be so sure of their survival against three people or whatever they were who seemed to be completely invincible to whatever they tried to do.

“Because you’re not the only one I called.” Scott informed her. Malia looked even more confused before she heard the footsteps as a person rounded the corner behind them.

“Get down!” Argent yelled, holding up a large gun and started firing at the approaching Dread Doctors. Scott and Malia immediately ducked, not wanting to get hit by the bullets and rushed to the hunter’s side.

Argent kept shooting, but his bullets didn’t even touch the Doctors. One of them had stepped forward and with his fingers, shot out some sort of electromagnetic shield, deflecting the bullets. Instinctively, Argent, Scott and Malia backed up away from them, but the Doctors didn’t come closer at all. Instead, they started at them for a moment before turning around and walking away, disappearing around the corner from where they came from.

“Thanks for the help.” Scott said, still keeping his eyes on the corner where the Dread Doctors disappeared just in case they came back. He didn’t think they would though. If they thought he, and Argent and Malia were a threat to whatever they were doing, which was most likely killing Noah right now since he was dying, they would’ve attacked them. The fact that they didn’t told Scott one thing, that Noah was already dead.

“No problem. You guys alright?” Argent asked, looking over the two of them to see if they were hurt as he lowered his gun.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Just need to find Stiles and Lydia.” Scott answered after glancing over to Malia, also making sure that she wasn’t hurt. He didn’t smell any blood, nor did he see and injuries on her, so he assumed that she was okay, besides being sore from being thrown around like a ragdoll.

“I saw them outside.” Argent let the Alpha knew before finishing, “You two go, I’ll see if I can find anything.”

Scott wasn’t sure about the idea of leaving his ex-girlfriend’s Dad alone in the tunnels with the Dread Doctors, but he knew that the Doctors were leaving so he should be okay as long as Argent didn’t confront them again

“Thanks.” Scott said, then he and Malia went back through the tunnels to meet up with Stiles and Lydia.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

In a few minutes, Scott climbed up the ladder into the warehouse, then held out his hands to help Malia just in case she needed it. Once she was up, the two went over to middle of the building where Stiles and Lydia were waiting. They had seen Argent went down in the tunnels to help Scott and Malia, but wanted to wait close by in case they needed more backup.

“Are you two okay?” Scott asked, coming over to the human and the banshee back in the open place in the building.

“We’re fine Scott.” Lydia assured him. Stiles didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at his best friend since childhood. He just stared dejectedly at the ground, though Scott could smell the anger, pain, and frustration coming from the teenager. He didn’t say anything though either, choosing to wait for Stiles to talk to him instead.

“You didn’t get him, did you?” Though it was worded like a question, Scott could tell from the sound of his best friend’s voice that he already knew the answer.

“No.” Scott replied anyways, not wanting to fall into the awkward silence that they had been falling into ever since last night.

“This is hopeless.” Stiles stated, as though it was a fact. Scott felt like he had been punched in the gut hearing that, fear rising up inside of him. Though he knew that Stiles had at times, didn’t think there was a way they could get out of the crap they had found themselves in, that there was a way to stop whatever threat they were facing, he had never heard his friend sound so sure of it, so, defeated then he sounded right now.

“Stiles,” Scott started to address his friend, trying to think of something he could say that would encourage him, something that would make him feel better, but not only did he come up with nothing, Stiles apparently didn’t want to hear whatever he was going to say.

“Scott, we have no idea what the Dread Doctors are doing and we can’t stop them. We’ve tried. All this, supernatural crap is too much for us to handle right now. It almost killed all of us at one time or another, almost killed my Dad. I’m sorry, but until someone can think of a way to do this without someone getting killed, I’m going back to the hospital to be with my Dad.” Stiles said it quietly, but there was so much anger in his voice that he might as well be shouting. As he turned and walked away from the three remaining, Scott felt as though his legs had been taken out from under him.

Throughout everything he had gone through in his life, Stiles was always there, helping him, supporting him, encouraging him and Scott did his best to do the same for Stiles as well. Now though, Stiles was leaving. Scott understood why, he had almost lost his Dad, twice now, because he had pulled his best friend into the supernatural world with him when he was still a human, a human who was terrified that he would lose the only family member he had left. Scott didn’t blame him at all for wanting to stay out of it to protect him Dad, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

“Stiles,” Lydia called out to him as he passed her, but Stiles didn’t stop, didn’t give a response of any kind. He just kept walking. Knowing there was no way he could stop his best friend right now, Scott turned to look at Malia.

“Malia?” Scott tried to get her attention when he saw the conflicted look on her face. He knew that she too was about to leave him just like his best friend just did.

“I’m sorry Scott, but, I kind of have my own problems to take care of right now, and trust me when I say, you aren’t going to want to be around me when I deal with them.” Malia told Scott, not meeting his eyes. Without another word, the werecoyote walked away, leaving the werewolf and banshee alone.

“They just need more time Scott. We’ll figure this out.” Lydia comforted Scott, coming over to him to put her hand on his shoulder when she saw the pure and raw pain in his eyes as two of his friends openly abandoned him, at least for the moment.

“I know, I’m not giving up.” Scott replied, quickly putting on a face of determination to mask how much it had hurt to watch both Stiles and Malia leave. Remembering something he had seen almost a year ago, Scott moved to stand in front of the wall they were facing.

“What are you doing?” Lydia asked, confused by what he was doing.

“Letting everyone know that none of this is over.” Scott answered, his tone filled with a mix of anger and determination. He then let out his claws on his right hand and raised it to the metal wall.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Only an hour after Scott and Lydia left the warehouse, two chimeras showed up at the warehouse, Theo and Hayden. They had also figured out that Noah was chimera and Theo realized that since Scott and was dead and wasn’t backing down, then he would need all the help he could get. So, with Hayden’s help, they started tracking him down. It didn’t take long for the two of the m to discover the small puddle of mercury on the ground.

“Dread Doctors must’ve gotten to him. Shame, we could’ve used him.” Theo lamented a little, though more concerned with the fact he lost a possible pack member then the fact that someone had most likely just been killed.

“What is that?” Hayden’s question caused Theo to look up to see what had caught her attention. When he saw what she was looking at, he immediately stood up as did Hayden.

There in the metal wall in front of them was a carving. It was so deep that it went right through, letting the sun shine through the cracks that were purposely made. It was two circles, one smaller one inside of a larger one. Theo knew who had put it there, and what it meant. It was a warning, that there was an Alpha still determined to protect this town and to put his pack together.

“It’s a symbol. A symbol of an Alpha and his pack.” Theo answered Hayden’s question, barely containing his rage that his carefully laid plans were slowly starting to unravel.

“Whose pack?” Hayden then asked, looking over at Theo, though he didn’t notice. He continued to glare at the carving as he answered Hayden’s latest question with his voice filled with fury and loathing.

“Scott’s.”

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

It was late in the afternoon when Scott finally got home. Seeing the purse and keys on the kitchen table, he knew that his Mom was also home, though he didn’t see or hear her. That didn’t surprise him though as Scott knew that she was probably asleep in her room. She would’ve just gotten off a night shift after all. 

Whenever she’d do one of those shifts, she’d come home and get a quick bite to eat before heading up to bed to get some much-needed rest. Wanting to be sure though, Scott quietly made his way up the stairs and towards his mother’s room. A quick peak inside proved him to be right, and he shut the door before heading into his own bedroom.

Once his door was closed, Scott slid to the ground as tears that he had been fighting ever since he woke up in the library with his Mom and Mason beside him, finally started running down his cheeks silently. Ever since he had woken up, he had been going off adrenaline and the determination to fix everything, but right now, all of that was gone and all the pain, fear, hurt, came crushing him to the point where he could barely breathe.

He had died, he had actually died. He had stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating. He saw Allison again, only to lose her once more. His best friend hated him, had left him. Malia and Kira left too. Liam tried to kill him. He had failed to keep Hayden save and alive. His friends wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe, maybe Theo was right. Maybe he should be dead.

They were all fighting a never-ending battle. There was also going to be another threat on the horizon. Scott knew asking his friends to help him fight it, was too much. They were just kids, he was just a kid. He knew that one day it would be too much for them, he just didn’t think that day would come so soon. Theo just proved that when Scott made the one mistake by trusting him, and destroyed them. How could he let that happen?

Scott took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his face as he started pulling himself back together. He didn’t have time to break down like this. He had to fix the damage that had been done. Though he had no idea how. Everywhere he turned, he found evidence of Theo’s lies and manipulations. The only person who didn’t seem so touched by it right now was Lydia, but there was only so much she could do. He needed a better perspective, from someone who wasn’t there when Theo came into the picture and who the chimera hadn’t gotten to.

Suddenly, an idea, a name came to Scott’s mind. He pushed himself off his bedroom floor and went downstairs where the phone was. It took him a second to remember the phone number as he hadn’t called it in a while, but once he did, he quickly dialed it and waited for the person to answer.

_“Hello.”_ Scott almost started crying when he heard the familiar gruff voice of his werewolf mentor.

“Derek?” The was a brief moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Derek responded as he realized who it was that was calling.

_“Scott? Are you alright? I felt something weird, bad, and I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer.”_ Derek demanded in a panicked tone.

“Yeah, my cell phone’s busted. I’m okay, but I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the quote at the very beginning of the chapter, I have no idea where it’s from or who said it. I believe I saw it on Pinterest but when I looked it up so I could give credit to whoever said it, I found nothing. I claim absolutely no ownership of it whatsoever. I saw it and it really made me think of Scott and everything that happened in season 5. It is not mine at all. Other then that, hope you guys liked this chapter!


	8. A New Threat

On the other side of Beacon Hills was the Dunbar residence. When Mason left Scott’s house last night, he found Liam at the vet clinic, sitting on the ground crying. He put his arm around his best friend and gently led him to his car and drove him home. And when they got to the house, Mason got Liam inside, cleaned him up, and made him lie down on his bed. It didn’t take long for Liam to fall asleep, the craziness of the last few days, the exhaustion from fighting his Alpha, the grief from losing Hayden all finally taking their toll on the young werewolf.

Liam didn’t wake from his slumber until it was well past morning. The clock on his bedside table read 12:35. At first, Liam was slightly confused as to how he got home, but then all the memories of what transpired the previous night came flooding back. He tried to kill his friend, his mentor, his Alpha because he wouldn’t bite and turn Hayden. Then Mason arrived and told him that Hayden was already dead. He then ran to where the chimera was, and held her in his arms, crying, until Parrish arrived and carried her away. The memories of Mason coming back for him and taking him home were distant and blurry. He barely remembered it all.

Hearing a noise downstairs, Liam slowly pulled himself up and got out of bed. He didn’t want to. The werewolf wanted to curl up under his blankets and stay there forever, wallowing in his grief, but if it was his Mom or stepdad and they called him or came into the room, they’d want to know what was going on. And it was pretty hard to fake being sick when your stepdad was a doctor.

So, Liam made his way down the steps to the kitchen, and was surprised to find that it wasn’t his Mom or stepdad. It was Mason, standing in front of the stove, his back to the werewolf.

“You’re still here?” Liam questioned, the drowsiness making his head foggy and slow. The only thing that was for sure getting through to the blonde was the smell of eggs being cooked in the frying pan.

“Like I’m leaving alone with what happened last night. You kidding me?” Mason replied incredulously, looking over his shoulder at his best friend. Once he had gotten Liam in bed and saw that he was fast asleep, Mason went downstairs and slept on the couch. They were lucky that Liam’s Mom was out of town visiting a family relative and his stepdad was on a 24-hour shift.

“Thanks.” Liam said quietly as he sat down at the table. Mason gave him a sad smile before finishing putting the scrambled eggs he had been cooking on a plate and placing it on the table in front of the werewolf, though he didn’t seem to notice.

“How are you doing?” Mason asked, sitting down beside Liam.

“My girlfriend is dead because Scott wouldn’t give her the bite. And then I tried to kill him.” Liam answered, putting his elbows on the table and his chin on his folded hands.

“Liam, you know that if Scott knew of a way to save her, he would’ve.” Mason assured the blonde.

“He could’ve bitten her!” Liam yelled, slamming his fists down on the table. Mason instinctively flinched, but managed to quickly calm down so he could comfort his friend.

“Scott said that if he did, given how weak she was due to what the Dread Doctors did to her, odds are, it would’ve killed her.” Mason reminded him.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Liam replied. It took Mason a few minutes to come up with an answer for that.

“True, but look around Liam. Even though I’ve only known about all this supernatural stuff for a few weeks, I can see how much you’ve all been through because of it. Do you really want this life for Hayden?” Mason wondered. He wasn’t lying. Despite only knowing about his best friend and his friends being either werewolves, or werecoyotes, or banshees or kitsunes, he could tell that they had been through a lot. He could see it in the way they acted and in their eyes every now and then. He could even hear it in their voices. But he still didn’t know what it was nor was he about to ask.

“At least she’d be alive.” Liam pointed out, finally looking over at Mason.

Neither of them said anything for a while after that. The werewolf, now seeing the plate of food his friend had placed in front of him slowly started eating, the eggs completely tasteless in his mouth. He wasn’t even really hungry, but he couldn’t remember that last time he had eaten and knew that he really should get some food in his system. And with Mason watching him, Liam knew that he would force him to eat if he had too. Under different circumstances, that would’ve been funny to watch. A human trying to force a werewolf to eat.

“Was, was Scott okay, when I left?” Liam asked slowly. While there was still a part of him furious for not biting Hayden and saving her, there was another part of him that was starting to feel tremendously guilty for attacking his Alpha with the goal of killing him. He knew that Scott was trying to find a way of saving her, and probably would’ve done everything he could. He didn’t deserve to be attacked the way Liam attacked him. Didn’t deserve it at all.

“Yeah, yeah, he was good. His Mom showed up and helped me get him home and she took care of him.” Mason responded, his voice stammering a little bit at the beginning.

He knew that he had promised Scott he wouldn’t say anything to anyone about how Theo showed up and what he did, but he didn’t expect to already be feeling the need to tell his best friend. Mason was never really good at keeping secrets. He shared everything with Liam, and since Liam and Scott where a lot closer, he felt like Liam had the right to know. But at the same time, he could see how much Liam was already suffering with Hayden’s death. He wasn’t sure how Liam would react or how much worse it would make the werewolf feel.

“Good.” Liam said, staring at his half-empty plate. Though Mason was still feeling like he was going to burst if he didn’t tell his classmate, he kept his mouth shut. Suddenly though, Liam’s head snapped up as he stared straight ahead, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Oh crap.” Liam muttered, dropping his fork on the table.

“What?” Mason questioned with a worried tone.

“Hayden’s sister. She doesn’t know that she’d dead.” Liam told him, then jumped to his feet and ran to the door, quickly slipping on his runners before rushing outside.

“Wait! Liam!” Mason called out as he also got up and followed his friend.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Mason had managed to catch up to Liam easily, mostly because Liam needed him to drive him to the police station. Mason didn’t want too, but when Liam threatened that he’d just run, the teenager agreed, hoping that he could talk to his friend and change his mind before they got there. By the time they arrived though, Liam was still determined to let Hayden’s sister know of her fate.

“Liam, think about this for minute, please.” Mason pleaded as the entered the police station, reaching forward to grab Liam’s arm and pull him to a stop. Once he did, Liam turned to face him.

“She needs to know.” Liam repeated the same argument that he had been using during the entire drive.

“But how are you going to explain that you know she’s dead? Or tell her where her body is?” Mason inquired, trying to persuade Liam to stop and think things through. That finally got to the young teenager as he realized that he hadn’t thought of that.

“Well, I, um, I don’t know. But her sister needs to know.” Liam insisted. Mason was about to respond when he saw something behind Liam, and completely froze.

“Or not.” Mason finally managed to get out. The werewolf then turned around and immediately stilled in complete shock. At the end of the hallway stood Hayden, talking to her sister who was in uniform, and behind them, stood Theo with a cocky grin on his face and his gaze on the werewolf and the human.


	9. Getting the Pack Together

Liam and Mason stood staring at the chimera, who was simply staring back at them in return. No one moved for a long moment, Liam and Mason in too much shock to think clearly while Theo just seemed amused by their reaction. After another minute though, he started walking towards the two sophomores.

“Liam, Mason.” Theo greeted, coming to a stop once he was standing in front of them.

“What did you do Theo?” Mason demanded, using his anger at the older teenager for what he had done to cover the fact he was actually somewhat scared of the chimera. The way he was looking at Liam made his skin crawl.

“What does it look like I did? I brought Hayden back from the dead.” Theo answered, his cocky tone matched his smug grin. Both Liam and Mason resisted the urge to punch it off his face, though Liam did clench his fists.

“Why?” The werewolf questioned.

“Maybe I was trying to do you a favour since your Alpha failed to keep his promise in saving her.” Theo responded, still smiling which was only making him get more and more on Liam’s nerves.

“No, that’s not it. If I’ve learned anything from you Theo, it’s that you’re not capable of doing anything for anyone other than yourself.” Liam objected. While the sophomore still didn’t know everything that Theo had done, he had figured out enough to realize that the chimera was the one pulling the strings behind everything. After all, he was the one who manipulated him into trying to kill Scott. No good person would ever do something like that.

“What would you say if I told you that I was getting ready to find a way to destroy the Dread Doctors and possibly fight a monster worse than anything you have ever seen?” Theo wondered, ignoring Liam’s dig at him.

“I’d say that was a load of crap, that you have another agenda.” Mason replied, even though Theo wasn’t talking to him. Theo glanced up at him for a moment before looking back at Liam, making it clear he didn’t care what Mason thought.

“Maybe, maybe not. Either way, we should be working together Liam.” Theo told the werewolf. When Liam didn’t respond though, Theo added, “I brought Hayden back for you just as much as I brought her back for me.”

“You think because you brought Hayden back from the dead, I should side with you? Be in your pack?” Liam said dubiously, glaring at the chimera for using the girl he loved almost like a bargaining chip to get him on his side.

“It’s more than Scott has ever done for you.” Theo pointed out. That was all Liam needed for his top to blow off. Who was this person to come in, wreck everything and hurt everyone he touched, then basically say he was better than the one who saved Liam’s life several times, protected him, taught him to control himself.

“You have no idea what Scott’s done for me!” Liam yelled, getting right into Theo’s slightly surprised face, not even aware that there were now several police officers staring at them.

“Liam.” Mason called out, trying to pull him away from the chimera, but the werewolf didn’t really hear him at all. All he heard was a buzzing sound as his anger was about to completely overwhelm him. Suddenly, a soft and caring voice called his name broke through the haze. It wasn’t Mason’s though.

“Liam.” The red-filled haze quickly disappeared, and Liam turned his head to look over his shoulder. At the other end of the hallway, stood Scott, who had his eyes focused on the beta. Liam wondered how long his Alpha had been standing there. He didn’t hear or smell him at all until now. Once Liam made eye contact with the older werewolf, Scott started walking towards them, his gaze moving to glare at Theo. He didn’t stop until he was right behind the two sophomores, standing somewhat in between them.

“What are you doing here Theo?” Scott demanded in a calm, yet fury filled tone, his normal soft and caring brown eyes hard and cold like ice.

“Just dropping Hayden off to see her sister.” Theo answered innocently, though no one was buying it for a second.

“Well you did. So, why don’t you leave now?” Scott suggested, though his voice made it clear it was an order, his tone sounding more threatening than Liam had ever heard before. Theo must’ve realized that too, because he nodded and took a small step back.

“We’ll talk more later.” Theo said to Liam before he turned around and walked away, heading towards the other exit to avoid going through Scott.

“Are you okay?” Scott asked once he was sure that Theo was gone. Liam and Mason both nodded as the turned to face the high school senior.

“I’m fine. Did you know about Hayden?” Liam questioned, his voice smaller than it usually was, and actually sounded a little hurt. Slowly Scott nodded.

“Yeah, Lydia and I found them late last night when we were looking for the Nemeton. We found it, and four bodies. Theo showed up not long after the police did. And with him was Hayden, Tracy, Cory, and Josh. He brought them back.” Scott revealed, knowing that Liam needed to know the truth even though it might make Liam upset that he didn’t tell him when he first found out that his girlfriend was alive.

“How did he do that?” Mason inquired. It was one thing for Melissa to bring Scott back from the dead using CPR, even though he had been dead for 15 minutes. But Hayden, Tracy, Josh, and Cory were dead longer than that, though Hayden not by much.

“Don’t know yet.” Scott replied, silently adding that to his list of everything he didn’t know. It was getting much too long for his liking.

“Why didn’t you tell me when you found out Hayden was alive?” Liam asked, exactly like Scott knew he would.

“Honestly, didn’t have time.” Scott answered. Seeing the look in Liam’s eyes, the older werewolf knew that he was going to have to explain everything.

“After, the library, I went to the hospital to see Stiles. A chimera attacked his Dad.” The Alpha revealed, glossing over what all happened the library and his stop at his house to heal up a bit.

“Is he okay?” Mason asked just seconds before Liam could. Neither of them had known about the Sheriff getting hurt and being in the hospital. It did explain why the police station seemed to be in a bit of a mess though.

“Yeah, he’s fine. After I stopped there, I went to go see if I could find Theo or the Dread Doctors. I found Lydia instead. Theo had clawed her neck to try and find the Nemeton. Luckily, she was okay, and we went looking together. Once we found the Nemeton, we called the police and that was when Theo and the others showed up. Lydia and I then headed back to the hospital and stayed the night. In the morning, we went looking for the chimera that attacked Stilinski. The Dread Doctors got to him first though. Then I went home to check on my Mom, and was about to check on you when I caught your scent here.” Scott explained pretty much everything that had happened over the last 16 hours.

Neither Liam or Mason said anything for a moment as neither were sure exactly how to respond. Eventually though, Liam, keeping his gaze down and away from Scott’s asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scott answered, a little surprised by Liam’s question and his heart breaking a little at the sight of Liam looking so timid as well as smelling the guilt with a hint of anger coming off the younger teenager in waves. All of the Alpha’s instincts were crying out, telling him to hug his beta and assure him everything was okay, but Scott knew that such an action was most likely not going to be welcome. So, he didn’t move.

“Okay. I’m going,” Liam paused, finally glancing up at Scott, though he quickly dropped it when he saw the caring look in his eyes. After what he did, he didn’t deserve his Alpha caring about him.

“I’m gonna go home.” The blonde finished, and started heading towards the exit. Scott was going to just let him leave, knowing that it might take some time for both of them to trust each other again, but then a thought suddenly came to him, causing him to turn around and call out his name.

“Liam,” The younger werewolf quickly turned back to face him, a surprised yet guarded look in his blue eyes.

“My phone’s busted. So, if you need to call me for anything, call my house or my Mom. You have those numbers, right?” Scott inquired. Liam looked a little shocked that that was why Scott stopped him, but nodded and continued walking towards the door.

Once he was gone, Mason looked around to make sure no one was present to listen in on their conversation. When he saw they were alone, he turned to face the senior and said, “Scott, I know I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but, he needs to know. He deserves to know.”

“No, it’s not important.” Scott immediately protested.

“Theo killed you Scott. You were dead. You really don’t think it’s important?” Mason questioned with a quieter voice just in case Liam, or maybe Theo, if he was still around, was using their hearing to listen in.

“If I did, I wouldn’t have made you promise not to tell anyone.” Scott replied.

“Didn’t all these problems in the pack start because we stopped talking to each other? That we started keeping things to ourselves?” Mason reminded him. Though the human had not been truly felt like he was part of the pack, he was an observer, and being an observer let him see from a different stand point. A larger stand point which let him see the bigger picture.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Scott defended his decision, though he couldn’t deny that he saw what Mason was getting at and he somewhat had a point.

“Is it?” Mason asked, but he didn’t give the Alpha a chance to respond before he said, “Look Scott, I know that I’m no werewolf or supernatural creature of any kind, nor have I been aware of it for very long, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that if you want to take down Theo and the Dread Doctors, you need your pack.”

“Trust me Mason, I’m taking care of it.” Scott assured him, though he didn’t go into any details whatsoever, and before Mason could ask for any, the Alpha turned and walked away, leaving the younger teenager to stare and wonder what Scott was doing.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

_Paris, France_

In a warehouse that was used to hold boxes of items before, whatever they were, were shipped out of the country, where two werewolves waiting for the person who called them to arrive. Jackson, and Ethan. They had met when Ethan had headed to London, wanting to get away somewhere he had never been after his twin brother, Aiden’s, death.

While there, he met Jackson, who was finishing up his junior, high school year. It didn’t take long for them to get together after they at first became friends, bonding over the difficulties of being lone werewolves. They found it somewhat funny that they had both been at Beacon Hills and knew they same people. They sometimes would joke about how if only Jackson had waited longer before he left for London.

They then decided to head to Paris for the summer, and found themselves not wanting to leave at all. So, with his Dad’s help, Jackson ended up finishing his senior high online so he could stay with Ethan in France. He offered to help Ethan finish up high school the same way, but the former Alpha turned the offer down. That had been their life up until last night, at midnight to be exact, when they both got a phone call from a werewolf they both knew from their time in Beacon Hills, wanting to meet with them.

“How long are we supposed to just wait around?” Jackson asked as his pacing took him back in Ethan’s direction. He had been pacing pretty much ever since they arrived while Ethan just sat on one of the boxes watching him.

“No idea.” Ethan replied, glancing at his phone to check the time. They had now been waiting for almost a half an hour. Jackson looked over to see what time it was, and when he did, he started pacing again, letting out a frustrated sigh as he did so.

“I say, if nobody shows up in the next five minutes, we take off.” Jackson voiced his opinion, unaware that the werewolf he had gotten together with almost three months was shaking his head.

“Longer than that.” Ethan spoke up. Jackson whipped around, an annoyed expression on his face making it clear he didn’t want to wait any longer, but Ethan reminded him, “He saved my life Jackson.”

The werewolf/kanima looked even more annoyed, but nodded. After all, the man they were waiting for had saved his life too. They both owed him and could wait a little longer. Though if he didn’t come soon, Jackson might go get takeout as they had skipped supper in order to get here in time. Suddenly, they heard the side open, though with the boxes lined up and stacked the way they were, they couldn’t see who.

“Who’s there?” Jackson demanded as Ethan stood up, coming over to the other teenager’s left side. At first, all they saw were a pair of glowing yellow eyes, causing both Jackson and Ethan to let their eyes glow blue in response. Then, a tall, lanky figure came out of the shadows and into the light.

“Jackson? Ethan?” The young man asked, letting his eyes go back to normal. As he came closer, the two werewolves quickly recognized who had joined them.

“Isaac.” Ethan stated, making Jackson look over at him in mild surprise. He had no idea that Ethan and Isaac knew each other, though it did make sense. It didn’t take long after they got together for them to find out that they had both been in the same place and knew the same people, even though they weren’t there at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” Jackson questioned, turning his head back to look at Isaac who was coming close to them.

“Got a phone call telling me to come here.” Isaac answered somewhat defensively, coming to a stop once he was standing in front of the two who had beaten him to the warehouse.

“So did we.” Jackson informed him, watching Isaac carefully. Though after he turned into werewolf instead of a kanima who was being controlled by a madman, they had kind of made peace with each other, there was not really any trust between the two. Ethan though, didn’t seem too unnerved by the other werewolf’s presence.

“Any idea why?” Isaac asked, as the person who had called him, telling him to meet here didn’t tell him why or what was going on.

“Nope. Still waiting.” Jackson answered. Before anyone could say anything else, the main door slid open loudly, and three figures came in. The one in the middle was taller and bulkier than the other two, who were smaller and leaner. They also had much longer hair than the one in the middle. As they came into the lights though, Ethan and Isaac easily recognized that it was Derek with Cora and Braedyn. Jackson however, only recognized Derek, as he wasn’t in Beacon Hills when the other two showed up.

“Good, all three of you are here.” Derek said as he and the two girls strode over to stand in front of the three werewolves who had been waiting for them.

“Yeah, you wanna tell us why?” Isaac asked, turning to face the three people who finally joined them.

“And who the girls are?” Jackson added, not recognizing them at all, though Isaac seemed to. It didn’t surprise the werewolf/kanima though. When he left Beacon Hills, Derek and Isaac were still there. It was very possible that they met those two while he was gone.

“Cora and Brayden.” Ethan replied. Seeing the questioning look on Jackson’s face, Ethan said, “I’ll explain later.”

“And the reason I called you guys, is because Scott needs our help.” Derek answered, effectively getting the three werewolves’ complete and undivided attention.


	10. Strength of Friendships

The next day, late in the evening, Scott made his way to the hospital, though he took his Mom’s car instead of his bike this time. He had wanted to go earlier, especially after his Mom heard that the sheriff had woken up, but his Mom wanted him to stay home and rest since he barely had since he died. Not to mention, to give him more time to heal, though the wound still hadn’t much. Knowing how much she was still worried about him, and still feeling pretty tired and sore, Scott agreed, actually managing to get a few hours of sleep.

Once his Mom seemed satisfied for how long he rested, she gave him the keys to her car so he could go to the hospital to visit Stiles and his father. She didn’t want him to take his bike with an open wound on his chest. Scott didn’t mind though. Considering how he had been getting tired a lot quicker, he felt a little more safer in a car than he did on his bike.

After arriving at the hospital, he immediately headed up to Sheriff Stilinski’s hospital room. The door was shut when he got there, which made Scott question if he should go in, but, wanting to make sure that the sheriff and Stiles were okay, he slowly opened the door and peeked inside to see that the older man was sitting up on his bed, while Stiles was fast asleep in the chair beside him.

“Scott. Good to see you.” Stiles’s Dad quietly greeted him once he saw who had come into the room.

“You too Mr. Stilinski. How are you doing?” Scott asked as he walked over to the hospital bed, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Pretty good, though I think the biggest reason for that are the painkillers they keep giving me.” The sheriff answered, looking up at one of the IV bags on the pole on the other side of the bed. Scott smiled hearing that, before he dropped it, a more serious expression coming upon his face.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Scott said sincerely. The sheriff was about to respond when they both heard a small groan. They turned their heads to the chair where Stiles was sleeping and saw that he was starting to wake up. The teenager blinked a few times, and looked around in the room in mild confusion before looking at his Dad.

“Are you alright?” Sheriff Stilinski asked once he saw that his son was completely awake.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Stiles answered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. It took him a minute, but when he seemed to be more alert, he stared up at Scott with what seemed to be an accusing expression.

“What are you doing here?” Stiles practically demanded. His Dad was visibly shocked by his son’s anger. While they had talked, a lot last finally, the teenager finally revealing what had all happened with Donovan and with Theo, he knew nothing about what exactly was going on between Stiles and Scott.

“Just came to see how you both were doing.” Scott responded, not as taken back by his friend’s hostility as he was before. He was starting to get used to it, not that he was surprised. After his mistake of trusting Theo, Stiles had every right to be angry at him.

“Well we’re doing fine, thanks.” Stiles told him with a snappish tone. Immediately sensing from the glare that Stiles was giving him and from his tone of voice that he was not welcome, Scott knew it was time for him to go.

“If there’s anything you guys need,” Scott started, but didn’t get a chance to finish before Stiles interrupted him.

“I said we’re fine.” The two teenagers stared at each other. Stiles’s though was far more like a glare while Scott tried his best to make his own expression more of a passive poker face, not wanting Stiles to know how much it was really hurting that his best friend was furious with him, blaming him for everything. After all, he deserved it and after what he put Stiles through, put his pack through, didn’t deserve any

“Okay. I’ll see you guys later I guess.”

“Take care of yourself Scott.” The sheriff chimed in once Scott reached the door. The teenager whom Stilinski often viewed as another son to him nodded his head at him in acknowledgement before he left the room, letting the door close behind him.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Stiles’s Dad asked practically the minute the door was shut.

“Not really.” Stiles blatantly answered, looking down at his knees so he wouldn’t have to see the confused and probably angry expression his Dad would have due to his behaviour just now.

“Stiles,” The sheriff started, but Stiles didn’t want to listen to his Dad defend Scott before he knew what happened.

“I told Scott that we shouldn’t trust Theo, but he did, and let him into the pack. And now several kids are dead, you almost died, Scott thinks I’m a murderer and it’s all because of him and Theo. If he just listened to me and stayed clear of that stupid, chimera, none of this would’ve happened.” Stiles rushed to explain.

His Dad let him finish, and gave him an extra minute to calm down from his rant before he said, “First off Stiles, while he may have trusted Theo, that does not mean he alone is responsible for Theo’s actions, nor the action of the Dread Doctors. Second, have you and Scott even tried talking about what happened with Donovan?”

“No, not really.” Stiles responded, lowering his head and looking a little ashamed that he hadn’t actually talked to Scott about it, avoided it actually when Scott brought it up.

“I just feel, so angry.” The human teenager admitted. He was know beginning to understand why Liam had such a hard time with anger. It was so easy to bottle up a lot of emotions that you were feeling and channel them into anger. The problem with that though was that that anger needed to go somewhere, and it usually went to the person’s easiest target. In this case for Stiles though, that target was Scott.

“I know. You made that pretty clear just now when Scott was here.” Stilinski told him. A sudden thought occurred to him, and needing to know the answer, he asked, “Is that how you’ve acting towards him ever since that night?”

When Stiles didn’t say anything, the sheriff knew he had his answer.

“Stiles, you have every right to be upset, but if you think that you have been stabbed in the back and manipulated, imagine how Scott must be feeling. He was played a lot worse than you were.” The sheriff reminded him. Stiles didn’t say anything though. He just looked off to the side, biting his lips as he thought about what his Dad said.

It did make sense to Stiles that Scott would be more hurt, but he sure didn’t seem like it was bothering him. He was just picking himself up and continuing fighting, like he always did. Maybe that was another reason why he was so angry at Scott. None of what happened seemed to have fazed him at all and that made Stiles angry. How could Scott not at all be shocked and taken back that someone he chose to trust could so easily turn them all against each other?

If he truly wasn’t, then he should’ve known that it was a possibility and kept a much closer and distrustful eye on Theo than he actually did. Since he didn’t do that, he clearly didn’t see this coming and therefore should be fazed by it. A small part of him suddenly started telling him that Scott obviously was hurt, shocked, and upset about all this, reminding him that lying down and being upset simply wasn’t in Scott’s nature, but Stiles immediately brushed that off. In certain situations, there were times when you were supposed to break down in pain and anger and the fact that Scott didn’t even seem to acknowledge that that time for him was now added fuel to the burning fire of fury instead of Stiles.

“Stiles, what are you really angry about? That Scott didn’t listen to you about Theo, that you feel as though Scott had accused you of murdering someone when it was an accident, one which Scott was obviously not told the real, whole story? Or are you mad at yourself because you weren’t able to keep your friends safe from Theo and for what happened with Donovan?” Stiles was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by his Dad’s question. His eyes snapped back to his father’s face and his mind slowly processed his words.

Of course Stiles was angry that his best friend didn’t listen to him about how they should not trust Theo, and yes, he was upset that Scott seemed to believe he was a murderer. And yes, he was knew for a fact that he was upset with himself for killing Donovan even though it was in self defense and an accident. But the idea that Scott hadn’t been told the real story of what happened hadn’t really crossed his mind.

Sure Lydia mentioned it, but Stiles was still so angry that he hadn’t really heard her or taken it seriously. Now though, he was. And at the same time, he was realizing that he spent all summer, mostly, and the last few weeks trying to make sure that they all graduated together and went to the same colleges, or at least, ones that were near each other, and he had been unable to stop some evil, little piece of crap from breaking them all apart.

“I, I don’t know. Maybe all of them.” Stiles answered honestly, looking down at the ground, resting his forehead against his hands.

“Son, listen to me, okay?” The sheriff waited until he saw that Stiles was looking at him again before he continued, “I don’t fully know what’s going on through your head, or everyone’s story as to what’s been going on in the last few weeks, but I do know, that if you all just sit back being angry, then you guys won’t get past this. You will all be divided unless you guys find a way to get through this.”

Stiles didn’t need his Dad to tell him all of that. Everything that he just said was completely obvious to him, but again, so much anger had built up inside of him that his brain seemed to have literally stopped thinking. Now that it was slowly starting again, Scott’s actions were starting to make sense, at least, a little bit. The werewolf wasn’t ignoring what had happened. Well, maybe a little, but it was more about first making sure that everyone was okay, which was who Scott was as a person, then about fixing what had been broken. And it was clear to Stiles that his Dad was encouraging him to do the same instead of just sitting back and blaming everything on Scott.

“You think I should forgive Scott?” Stiles summed up, staring right into his Dad’s gentle eyes.

“I do.” Stilinski answered. Seeing the still conflicted look on Stiles’s face, he added, “Like I said before, we don’t know his side of the story, but I do know, that he has one, and he is not going to give up. The only question is, are you actually going to make him stand alone?”

The image, memory, of Scott standing alone in a hotel parking lot, drenched in gasoline as he held a burning flare tightly in his hand suddenly came into Stiles’s mind. Never had he felt that kind of fear before in his life, seeing his best friend about to kill himself because he believed that it would be better for everyone if he was dead. It was his stand against the evil he believed he had brought into their lives by becoming a werewolf and Stiles refused to let him stand alone and fall into that trap. The idea of leaving Scott to stand and fight alone against the evil that was the Dread Doctors and Theo brought a sick feeling to Stiles’s stomach.

Stiles looked back to his father, but the sheriff seemed to have read his mind because he said, “Go. I’ll be fine.”

With only a slight hesitation because of his concern for his Dad, Stiles stood up off the chair and took off out of the room and down the hall, hoping to catch Scott before he had left the hospital.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Considering everything that had been going on with his and Stiles’s friendship, Scott decided that his visit went as well as could be expected. That didn’t mean he didn’t wish it could’ve gone better. He hated how Stiles was still so angry with him that he couldn’t stand being in the same room as him. Scott hoped that soon Stiles would calm down enough that they could finally talk about, well, everything, and they could fix their relationship. But at the rate things were going, the werewolf was beginning to have his doubts, and that scared him more than anything. He couldn’t imagine going on with his life without his best friend by his side.

Scott slowly made his way out of the hospital, and into the hospital parking lot, his feet dragging a little on the pavement. He had almost reached his Mom’s car when he heard someone calling his name.

“Scott!” The werewolf immediately turned around at the sound of Stiles’s voice and stopped in his tracks so that Stiles could catch up to him.

“Stiles, is something wrong?” Scott asked with a worried tone once Stiles had reached him, sounding a little out of breath, as though he had been running all the way over here. Had something happened to his best friend’s Dad since he left the hospital room only a few minutes ago.

“Well, a lot of things are still wrong, and I am still mad at you, but, I’m not letting you go up against the Dread Doctors and Theo alone. You might get yourself killed.” Stiles told him, and Scott resisted the urge to flinch at that last sentence so he wouldn’t give anything away. With how upset Stiles already was, Scott didn’t want to make it worse by letting him know that Theo had already killed him. Then, Scott realized what all Stiles had said and couldn’t stop the very small smile from coming on his face.

“Okay.” Scott replied.

“So, what’s your plan?” Stiles wondered, but before Scott could answer, a worried look came upon Stiles’s face as he asked, “You do have a plan, right?”

“I have a few. But for now, I’m going to go get Kira.” Scott informed his friend, then seeing a strange look on Stiles’s face, he asked, “Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure.” Stiles answered. The smile on Scott’s face grew slightly upon hearing his best friend’s answer. Though he had no doubt they still had a ways to go with patching up their friendship, and that Stiles was still upset with him, Scott let himself feel better with the knowledge that his best friend was still standing by him.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Mason waited for what felt like five minutes after he rang the doorbell and knocked on the front door to Liam’s before he twisted the knob to if it was locked. When he found that the door was unlocked, he pushed it open and went inside to see if his best fiend was indeed inside or if he had left and just forgot to lock the door. It was very possible that Liam was just ignoring the ringing of the doorbell and the knocking. He seemed very out of it when Mason dropped him off the other day.

After they had left the police station, where they had seen Hayden, Theo, and Scott, Mason drove Liam home. The werewolf seemed to be a little overwhelmed and shocked by everything that happened. He had barely said a word the entire drive to his house. When they did get to his place, Mason asked if Liam wanted him to stay, but Liam said no, that he wanted to be alone. So he headed home, respecting his friend’s wishes. After Liam though didn’t respond to any of his texts or the messages he left when he called him, Mason headed back to his friend’s house to check on him.

“Liam? You here?” Mason somewhat shouted, not wanting to be too loud in case Liam’s parents were here, but wanted to be loud enough that he could be heard. Getting no answer, Mason climbed the stairs and headed to Liam’s bedroom. He didn’t have to knock because the door was already open, showing him that Liam was indeed in the room, sitting on the floor by the foot of his bed.

“Hey, there you are.” Mason said as he came further into the room, closing the door behind him even though nobody else was home. Seeing the lack of response and the dejected look on Liam’s face, Mason asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I finally talked to Hayden.” Liam answered with an empty voice. Immediately, Mason crossed the room over to his best friend.

“And?” Mason pushed for more information as he sat down beside the werewolf.

“And she’s mad at me because I didn’t save her. She pretty much confirmed what Theo said, that she’s staying with him because he actually did save her.” Liam revealed, still staring at the floor while he clenched his jaw. Mason couldn’t hide his shock at all when he heard that. Before he could even think of a response though, Liam started talking again.

“There was something so, different about her. I think, dying did something to her.”

“Of course it would’ve, but, I’m sure once she sees what kind of person Theo truly is, she’ll leave.” Mason tried to assure his friend, but from the way Liam was already shaking his head, he didn’t believe him at all.

“He was the one who saved her though. Scott couldn’t do that.” Liam pointed out, still keeping his eyes of the floor instead of looking at his friend.

“May I remind you that the bite could’ve killed her too? And that Scott was a bit busy with being trapped in the library fighting you to be going and saving her?” Mason brought up. Liam didn’t say anything to that, now feeling guilty with the knowledge that maybe if he hadn’t attacked Scott, but brought him to Hayden so he could see that she really was dying, he might’ve actually bitten her and saved her.

“Also, you and I both know that Theo didn’t bring back Hayden, or Josh, or Corey, or Tracy out of the goodness of his heart. There is a reason, and given what we now know about Theo, it isn’t going to be a good one. That’s the difference between Scott and Theo.” Mason continued when Liam didn’t say anything.

Liam didn’t need Mason to tell him all the differences between Scott and Theo, especially the main one. After almost an entire day of thinking it all over, Liam could see lots of differences between the two werewolves. Well, werewolf and chimera. There was another difference. Liam could only hope though that Hayden would soon see it, would soon realize that Theo would not have saved her unless she had something he wanted. Scott would’ve saved her though because he wanted to save and protect everyone, no matter the cost to himself. Suddenly, Liam found himself wondering, what all had his Alpha given up, been through in order to the Beacon Hills protector.

“Do you remember, that party last year where I was dragged off by some police officers saying that I was too drunk?” Liam suddenly asked him. It took a minute though before Mason remembered that night. He had been so confused as to why his best friend had been taken by the cops when everyone else was drunk and had told Scott about it. Suddenly he was gone, but not before

“Yeah.” Mason answered, not exactly sure why Liam was bringing that night up now, but knew that something else must’ve been going on, otherwise, there was no reason as to why the blonde would have brought that up.

“Well, it turns out those cops were actually trying to kill us.” Liam revealed. Seeing the shocked and confused look on Mason’s face, Liam added, “The reason why is a bit of a long story, but after that, Scott told me that Kira found Brett and they needed our help, but I was so freaked out by what just happened and Scott instead offered to take me home.”

“I told him that I wasn’t like him, that he and his friends try to protect everyone and that, if they have been doing that the whole time, how were they all still alive. He said not all of them were.” Liam finished, looking down at the floor. Mason didn’t say anything for a minute, trying to understand what his friend was trying to tell him from that story, but he couldn’t really come up with anything.

Of course, since Scott had been a werewolf longer, he would have fought a lot more enemies and bad guys then Liam had, and given how violent they could be, it wasn’t at all surprising to the human teenage that some of his friends or people that he knew had died. Mason could easily understand that, but what he didn’t understand was why Liam was bringing that up now. Maybe it had something to do with Hayden? Or maybe Liam found out that Scott had actually died the night before.

“What are you trying to say Liam?” Mason hesitantly questioned, seeing an almost depressed and guilty expression on the werewolf’s face.

“I’m trying to say is that I could see in his eyes, that he had gone through a lot, but he was still fighting. He still is now. I tried to kill him, and he was asking if I was okay.” Liam replied, finally turning his head up to look at him revealing that his eyes were turning red, as though he was struggling not to cry.

“How can he do that?” Liam wondered, his voice quieter, threatening to crack as he continued holding back his desire to break down and cry. He hadn’t expected this, hadn’t expected to be holding back tears. Usually, he got angry. While he hated being angry almost all the time as it happened so easily, he at least knew what to expect. But after seeing Scott, and talking to him, finding out that his Alpha didn’t seem angry with him at all and was instead considered about him, he felt guilt beyond anything he had ever felt before.

“I think that’s part of the reason why he’s a True Alpha.” Mason told him, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t think I can do that. I don’t think I can fight and protect everybody like he does. I don’t think I can do any of this.” Liam admitted, lowering his head down in shame.

Again, Mason was silent for a moment, giving his friend time to collect himself as he knew that Liam hated breaking down in front of others, hated letting anyone see him vulnerable. Personally, he believed that was something that the younger werewolf had in common with his Alpha. Even from his limited knowledge of Scott McCall, and limited time spent with him, he got the sense that Scott didn’t like anyone knowing he could be vulnerable either. That was made even more clear when the high school senior made Mason promise not to tell anyone that Theo had actually killed him.

After a few seconds though, Mason brushed off the stray thought and said, “Liam, I can’t even pretend to understand what you’re feeling right now, but I do know that you are a lot stronger than you think you are. And I’m not just talking about your werewolf strength. I know you can do this.”

Liam didn’t say anything to that, he just shrugged his shoulders, clearly not believing what his friend was telling him. He didn’t feel strong, not at all. He felt guilty, angry, and above all else, completely useless. He was unable to save Hayden, unable to keep from trying to kill Scott who had done nothing to deserve that, and had no idea how to go forward.

“Maybe, start small. Who do you care about and want to protect?” Mason prompted, wanting to help the blonde with all of his heart, hating that his friend was going through all of this and that he wasn’t really able to help.

“I care about my friends, and Hayden. I want to protect them.” Liam automatically answered, not even needing to think about the question that Mason had asked.

“Alright, then the first thing you should do, is talk to them, try and fix whatever problems are going on between you guys.” Mason told him.

“Where do I even start? ‘Sorry for trying to kill you Scott and sorry for not saving you Hayden’?” Liam wondered, raising his head so he could meet Mason’s eyes.

“If you start with sorry, the rest, probably won’t matter.” Mason responded. Liam turned his gaze away again, but didn’t say anything as he thought about what his friend said.

Mason was right, about Scott at least. The Alpha had never been anything less than kind, understanding, and considerate. Liam highly doubted that Scott would be, at least, overly angry with him. That much was clear from their meeting this morning. But that didn’t mean Scott was at all happy with him, or trusted him. That he would have to earn back.

Hayden on the other hand, Liam had no idea about. After all, she had a history of holding grudges and since he had failed to save her like he said they would, there was no doubt at all in his mind that she was furious with him. She made that perfectly clear. And since Theo was the one who saved her life, and was an evil manipulator, odds were that she would stay with him instead of even listening to Liam. It would be a lot harder for him to get her to simply listen to him, let alone to believe and trust him again. And the beta had no idea if he would succeed.

Suddenly, Liam felt Mason’s arm wrap around his shoulders, pulling him closer to him. Even though he wasn’t really a touchy person, he appreciated his friend’s comfort and accepted it, letting himself lean against Mason. Soon though, he would push himself off the floor had leave to either go find Scott or Hayden, but for now, he was glad that at least one person didn’t seem upset with him at all.


	11. Down to Mexico

It took almost two days for Scott and Stiles to complete their plan to rescue Kira, the hardest part being finding out where she was. The kitsune’s father wasn’t sure if whether or not the two teenagers should be going down to Mexico to get her, as he did believe along with Kira’s mother that she would get the help she needed as well as the fact that it could be dangerous. But seeing how many dangers Scott and Stiles had faced before already, and seeing that they, or at least, Scott, was determined to go get her, he decided to help. Personally though, Scott believed that Mr. Yukimura was just as worried about Kira as he was.

Another reason it took longer then they wanted it to, was because of the condition of Stiles’s jeep. It was still in pretty bad shape after Parrish flipped it and lit it on fire, but Stiles managed to fix it up. He did have to buy some more duct tape though. Once it was fixed, for the most part, Stiles texted Scott that he was ready to go. Barely a minute passed before Scott replied that he was also ready, as he was just waiting on Stiles, and the high school senior started driving his somewhat fixed Jeep to his friend’s house.

It was only going to be the two of them on the trip to Shiprock, where Kira was. They both asked Lydia if she wanted to come along, but while she was concerned about her friend, she said ‘no’. Her reasoning was that she wanted to try and talk to Malia, see what was going on with the werecoyote as well as talking with Parrish about him being a hellhound, but the two boys knew there was another reason, one she wasn’t saying. She wanted them to go alone because she wanted them to actually talk and try to fix their relationship and knew that if she came along, she would get stuck in the middle of their problems. So, Scott and Stiles were to head off on the long drive to Mexico alone, with no mediator.

While the werewolf Alpha didn’t give away at all how he felt about that, Stiles wasn’t sure how he felt. On one hand, he could finally tell Scott what happened with Donovan, so that he could clear the air if Scott really didn’t know the true story of what happened that night with the chimera. On the other hand, there was a part of him that reminded him if how his best friend looked at him that night in the rain, when he confronted him about what happened. What if Scott did know the real story and truly did think he was a murderer? That part of Stiles made him question if it was a good idea to bring it up on the trip. As Stiles arrived at the McCall residence and parked the Jeep, he decided that he would wait for now.

“Scott! I’m here!” Stiles shouted as he entered the house. He quickly froze in his tracks when he saw who was actually in the house. Scott wasn’t there, or at least, not in sight, but Isaac, Cora, Jackson, and Ethan were. Isaac and Cora were sitting on the couch while Jackson and Ethan were standing by them. The werewolves all looked up when they heard and saw him come inside.

“When did all of you guys get here?” Stiles questioned, with a slight smile. He was happy to see Isaac, and was okay with Cora and Ethan, but wasn’t sure about Jackson. If the former lacrosse captain was there to help them, then he would gladly take it. If not, he would get his Dad to run him out of town.

“About an hour ago.” Isaac answered, standing up to give Stiles a hug when he saw the fellow teenager coming over to him, opening his arms as he did so. Normally, Isaac wasn’t really one who liked to be touched, instinctively feeling as though he was about to be hit, punched, or kicked thanks to his Dad, but since he had somewhat missed Stiles, he let it slide. He had also given Scott a hug as well when they arrived.

“Why are you here?” Stiles then asked once he had pulled out of the quick but tight embrace, looking over at Cora, Ethan, and Jackson who hadn’t moved at all from their spots.

“Scott called Derek, who then called us.” Ethan explained. Stiles’s eyebrows shot up a little at that. After Derek had left with Braeden, they had received hardly any word from him. He didn’t at all think that the older man would come back to Beacon Hills after everything that had happened to him here, but if Scott had called him and asked, of course he would’ve.

“Where is Derek? And where is Scott?” Stiles asked, looking around the room again to see if they actually were here and he just didn’t see them the first time.

“They’re both upstairs.” Cora replied, turning up her head to look at the ceiling. Stiles did the same, hearing the footsteps of two people walking towards the stairs.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott slowly pealed the bandage off his chest, revealing the injuries underneath that still hadn’t healed at all. Derek stood stoic, just like he always did, but he couldn’t keep the anger and concern he was feeling when he saw the wounds from showing in his eyes.

“Don’t even think of telling me that it’s not as bad as it looks. I’ve been injured many times and have seen several injuries to know what’s bad or not. And though those wounds aren’t bleeding, they’re still bad.” Derek told him with a forceful tone, though Scott could clearly see the concern in the older werewolf’s blue eyes.

After Derek, Cora, Isaac, Ethan, and Jackson had arrived in Beacon Hills, they immediately came over to Scott’s house, much to his surprise. He knew Derek was coming as the former Alpha had told him he was after Scott revealed everything that had happened in the last few weeks, but Scott didn’t know that Derek was bringing the others. He was happy to see them though.

Once they had arrived, Scott quickly gathered that Derek had only told them some of what happened. Jackson and Cora knew about Scott being a True Alpha and they all knew that Scott now had another beta, Liam, and that Liam’s best friend Mason knew about them being werewolves. Jackson had been told that Lydia was a banshee, and of Allison’s death. He actually hugged Scott and said ‘sorry about Allison’ when he arrived which completely surprised the Alpha, but he accepted the hug nonetheless. They all also knew about Theo and the Dread Doctors and the chimeras.

But when none brought up Scott’s dying and coming back, or his still healing injuries, he knew that Derek had kept that to himself, which he was grateful for. However, Derek did almost immediately ask to talk to him alone and once they got to the privacy of Scott’s room, the older werewolf practically demanded to see the injuries, wanting to make sure that Scott was okay, which was why they were there now.

“Maybe, but I’m fine, or, I will be fine. I just need more time to heal.” Scott responded, putting a new bandage over the wounds to keep them from getting infected.

“Maybe, but I think you really should keep an eye on that, and take it easy until it does fully heal.” Derek informed him as Scott put his shirt back on, hiding any evidence that he was actually injured.

After getting his shirt on, Scott looked back over at Derek. There was an unfamiliar expression on his face and the teenager didn’t know what it was. He was about to ask what was wrong, but before he could, his ears picked up the sound of a vehicle coming to a stop in front of the house. Scott went over to the window, and saw the familiar Jeep parked in front of the house and Stiles making his way to the door.

“Stiles is here.” Scott stated, even though he didn’t need too. Only seconds after Scott spoke, they both heard the door open and Stiles’s voice downstairs, wondering where his best friend was.

“Come on.” Scott told Derek as grabbed his small duffle bag he had already packed and made his way out of his bedroom, the other werewolf following right behind him.

“There you are.” Stiles said once he saw his friend coming down the stairs. When he saw the older man also coming down, he greeted him, “Hey Derek.”

“Stiles.” Was all Derek said, giving the human teenager a nod once he reached the floor.

“So, why did you call them?” Stiles asked Scott, before looking at the group, quickly adding, “I mean, I’m glad to you see guys, but, why?”

“Because with everything that Theo did, I thought that having a third party who hasn’t been affected by his lies and tricks would be helpful. It also doesn’t hurt that Theo, as far as we know, knows nothing about them which could come in handy. And if we are taking on a pack of chimeras and the Dread Doctors, then we are going to need all the help we can get.” Scott explained his line of thinking.

“Good idea.” Stiles said with a nod. He then looked over at Derek and asked, “No Braeden with you?”

“She’s already with Malia. I guess Malia found more information about her mother and wanted some help and since Braeden was the one hunting her, she thought she was the best person to help.” Derek filled the human in on what had happened since they got back. Stiles nodded, letting him know that he heard him.

“You ready to go?” Scott asked, putting his duffle bag on the floor as he reached for his jacket.

“Yeah, the jeep’s about as good as it’s going to be unless I manage to get over a grand and take it to the shop and actually get it fixed.” Stiles replied. It had taken him at least two rolls of duct tape to put the engine back together and keep it together, and there were still other problems with the vehicle he had to keep an eye on though.

“Alright. You guys okay with keeping an eye on things here while we’re gone?” Scott questioned, slipping his arms into the sleeves of his coat.

“We’ll be fine. We’ll keep an eye on Theo, and the rest of the pack.” Derek spoke for the group that he had brought back to the city with him. Isaac, Ethan, Jackson, and Cora all nodded, letting Scott know that Derek was right.

“Keep most of your attention on Theo though. We didn’t and look what happened.” Stiles chimed in with a somewhat bitter tone that immediately had everyone looking at him, expect for Scott, who decided to look at the floor. Stiles didn’t notice the others staring at him, but did see Derek’s eyes narrowing at him.

“What’s up with you?” Derek asked, staring at Stiles with a slightly threatening look in his eyes.

“Nothing.” Stiles answered defensively as he started to wonder what Scott had all told them. Derek’s narrowed eyes flashed at Stiles’s voice, but before he could respond at all, he saw Scott standing behind Stiles, shaking his head while there was a pleading look in his brown eyes. The Alpha didn’t want him to push Stiles.

“Before you go, Scott, I need to talk to you about something, privately.” Derek said, silently agreeing with the teenager to not push Stiles, but also not about to let the issue just slide.

“Yeah, sure.” Scott replied, knowing exactly what it was that Derek wanted to talk about.

“Okay.” Derek said, then turned around and walked to the other side of the house and turned the corner so he was out of sight. Scott followed right behind him, leaving Stiles and the other werewolves completely confused as to what was going on. They were all taken back by Stiles’s attitude and were all just as curious as to why he was acting this way, but they had also seen Scott try to defuse the situation and silently tell them not to confront his best friend since childhood on the matter.

“What the h*ll is up with him?” Derek demanded in a quiet voice so Stiles wouldn’t hear. He knew that the others would be able to hear him no matter how quietly he was talking.

“I told you what happened, or at least, what I do know. Stiles basically blames me for everything that Theo did.” Scott informed him. Though he had been completely honest with Derek about what happened, or at least, with his side of the story, but hadn’t told him how angry Stiles was with him as he didn’t want to talk about it over the phone.

“But he’s acting like he’s the only victim in all of this. He’s not. You were the one that was killed Scott.” Derek reminded him. Scott glanced over at where Stiles and his other friends were even though they were completely out of sight, then lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Wait, he doesn’t know, does he?” Derek suddenly realized, smelling the pain and guilt from Scott, putting the pieces together without needing Scott to say anything.

“No. And you can’t tell him.” Scott replied, raising his head to look up at Derek again.

“Why? Who actually does know?” Derek then questioned, completely confused as to what Scott’s line of thinking and reasoning was.

“My Mom, Liam’s friend Mason, Lydia, and Theo. Just they know.” Scott answered.

“And why haven’t you told the others?” Derek questioned, his tone making it clear that he wasn’t leaving without an answer. So, Scott gave him one.

“Because they’ve already lost any faith they ever had in me because of how I trusted Theo and let him divide us. If they knew what Theo did, then how on earth are they going to believe that we can defeat him?” Scott explained himself. Derek could easily understand the Alpha’s line of reasoning, but then he saw something in Scott’s eyes that shouldn’t be there, and knew there was more to the story.

“You’re not telling me the whole truth.” Derek told him. Scott looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights before an almost grief like expression shone through his eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now Derek. And we don’t have time to get into it. Please, just drop it. And don’t tell anyone about what happened with Theo.” Scott told Derek, his voice sounding on the edge of pleading.

“Okay.” Derek reluctantly agreed. He didn’t think it was right, that the Alpha’s friends and pack members should know so they knew how much of a threat Theo could be, but he also understood that at times, an Alpha needed to show his strength, especially when dealing with a threat. Showing weakness could indeed make those loyal to him to leave, thinking he wasn’t strong enough to lead them, to protect them. And since Scott also apparently had another reason, it was probably also a fair one, so he dropped it.

“You haven’t already told anyone, have you?” Scott then asked. While Isaac, Cora, Ethan, and Jackson hadn’t given any sign that they knew what happened between him and his pack and Theo, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know.

“No.” Derek answered. When Scott had called him and told him what was happening, and after Derek had called the others, he decided not to give them any details. He had heard Scott struggling not to cry, heard his voice breaking as he revealed what he had been dealing with and believed he should respect Scott’s privacy. Apparently, it was a good thing he did since Scott told him he didn’t want others to know that Theo had actually killed him.

“Good.” Scott muttered, then said, “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Be careful Scott.” Derek told him, putting his hand on Scott’s shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze before letting his hand drop.

“You too.” Scott replied, then turned around and started walking back to where his friends were.

“Everything alright?” Isaac asked once he saw Scott coming back into the living room where he and the others were waiting.

“Yeah, everything’s good.” Scott answered while Derek now arrived back in the room.

“Okay, let’s go.” Stiles said, keeping his eyes on Scott as he didn’t want to know for sure if Derek was glaring at him again.

Scott nodded, grabbed his bag from where he had dropped it, waved goodbye to the werewolves that would soon be leaving for Derek’s loft since he stilled owned it, and followed Stiles out to his Jeep. Once they got into the vehicle, Scott moved to put his bag in the backseat. He then turned and put his seatbelt on, as did Stiles.

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” Stiles mumbled, and put the Jeep in drive and started heading down the road to get to the highway where they would turn to travel down south.


	12. Trying Again

Liam laid low for the last two days, after telling Mason about what happened when he finally talked to Hayden. He had too many thoughts running through his head as he tried to figure out what he should do about Hayden and Scott. Mason managed to get him out of his house to go and volunteer cleaning up the library at the high school, though his best friend quickly ended up hanging out with Corey, leaving Liam alone with his thoughts again.

Finally though, Liam gathered all the courage he had left and, borrowing his Mom’s car, he drove over to Scott’s house, hoping that the senior was there and was willing to talk to him, at least long enough for him to apologize. As he arrived at the McCall residence, he parked the car and walked towards the door. He then knocked and lowered his head, waiting for Scott to open the door. It wasn’t the Alpha who answered though, it was his mother.

“Liam.” Mrs. McCall sounded surprised, but it quickly wore off and anger took its place as she folded her arms over her chest and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I, um, came to see Scott. Is he here?” Liam replied nervously. He had never, ever thought that his Alpha’s Mom was scary, at all, but seeing the look of fury on her face almost had him shaking in fear.

“No. He and Stiles went to go get Kira.” Mrs. McCall answered, staring straight into his eyes so hard that Liam started wondering if the nurse was trying to see if she had laser eyes and could use them on him.

“Do you know when they’ll be back?” Liam then asked, unable to meet the older woman’s eyes.

“Nope.” Scott’s Mom responded shortly. The blonde waited a few seconds, just to see if Mrs. McCall was going to tell him when her son would be home, but it soon became apparent that she either didn’t know or just didn’t want to tell him. Liam had a strong feeling it was the latter though.

“Okay. Thanks.” Liam replied, silently wondering what he should do now.

“Your welcome.” Mrs. McCall said, her tone still as cold as it was before despite the polite words. She then took a step back and slammed the door. Seconds later, Liam heard the door being locked.

Liam slowly turned around and walked back to where he had parked his Mom’s car, his head hanging down low in disappointment and guilt. He was still feeling guilty for what he did to Scott, which is why he had come over, to talk to him, to apologize, but he didn’t even think about how his Alpha’s Mom would react to his presence. A different kind of guilt started to rise up inside of him. He almost took away the nurse’s son.

She was one of the nicest people Liam had ever met, and he almost killed her only child. He hadn’t thought at all what that would’ve done to her. After seeing Scott as an older, wiser, almost brotherly, though if he was being honest, a little like a father figure to him, he had completely forgotten that Scott was someone’s child just like Liam was.

Once Liam reached his car, he sat down in the driver’s seat and closed the door. Only then did he slam his fists on the steering wheel in frustration, though, not as hard as he could’ve because he knew he would wreck the wheel if he did. The werewolf then took a deep breath to calm himself down. It worked a little, but Liam knew that it was only a temporary solution. There was so much anger in him caused by frustration, guilt, and helplessness and he knew he needed to get it up before he completely exploded. Without thinking twice, Liam out the car in drive and started heading towards the high school.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Liam got to the school within minutes, but didn’t park in the school parking lot. He drove around to the lacrosse field and parked there. He then grabbed his gym bag and lacrosse sticks out of the trunk, having left them there a couple of days ago, then walked over to the bleachers. The werewolf put his bag on the lowest bench and pulled out a few lacrosse balls before walking over to stand several feet in front of the goal. Without waiting at all, he started throwing the balls into the net as hard as he could.

“Getting some extra practise in or something?” Liam immediately turned around to face whoever was speaking to him. It was a young man with short, brown hair. He appeared to be in his late teens. The person was walking towards him confidently, away from the silver Porsche that was parked on the grass by the bleachers. There was an amused look on his face that the werewolf didn’t really like.

Liam mentally kicked himself. He had let himself get so lost in his anger and frustration that he didn’t even hear the person arrive. How could he have not heard the car engine arrive at the field at all? Considering everything that had been happening since he had become a werewolf, he knew threats could come anywhere and at anytime. He should never let his guard as down as he apparently had while he was throwing the lacrosse balls in the net.

“Or something.” Liam answered the young man’s question, watching the person closely and cautiously as the young man continued walking closer.

Soon, the young man came to stop, looked around, then asked, “Want someone to practise with?”

Liam tried to hold back the shock he felt at the person’s offer before he said, “You know how to play lacrosse?”

“Yeah. I was actually the captain of the lacrosse team at my old school.” The young man informed him, looking fairly cocky as he did so.

While Liam wasn’t sure what to make of the person who seemed to have arrived out of nowhere, he couldn’t deny that having someone to practice with could be beneficial. And if there was something wrong with the man, well, Liam was a werewolf. He could easily take him if he had too. Liam didn’t think he would though. There was something about this person that seemed to set him at ease a little, like he really was a friend and not a threat. Considering the last stranger that arrived who seemed to be a friend was actually not, Liam knew he would still have to be cautious.

“Sure. There’s another stick over there.” Liam replied, pointing to the spare lacrosse stick by his bag on the first row of the bleachers.

“This is a good stick.” The young man said, gripping it tightly with both hands as he walked over to Liam, stopping when he was about 15, maybe 20 feet away.

“Yeah. My Mom and step-dad got me these sticks, after I went through an entire semester without getting into any fights.” Liam told him, throwing the ball he still had in his stick to the young man. The stranger easily caught it, then gave him a curious look.

“You get into fights a lot?” The young man wondered before throwing the ball back to Liam.

“Every now and then.” Liam replied, once again catching the ball. Holding his stick tightly, the ball still in the small net at the top, he revealed, “I have IED.”

“What’s that?” The young man inquired, lowering his stick a little when he saw that the young blonde wasn’t getting ready to toss the ball back to him just yet.

“Intermittent Explosive Disorder.” Liam informed him.

“Anger issues?” The stranger surmised, twirling the stick in his hands a little as he waited for Liam to toss the lacrosse ball back to him.

“Yeah.” Liam answered, finally throwing the ball back to the stranger, though a little harder than he had before, hoping to catch the person off guard. He didn’t though. The young man caught easily.

“That why you play lacrosse? Get out some of your pent-up aggression?” The brunette questioned, tossing the ball back to Liam with not as much force as Liam had.

“It helps, but, doesn’t fix anything.” The blonde told him as caught the ball, then quickly threw it back.

“I used lacrosse to help me out with my issues too.” The person informed him as he again caught the ball and tossed it back. This time though, he threw it more to Liam’s left, so the sophomore had to stretch his arms a little to catch it. He still easy got it though.

“What issues do you have?” Liam asked, glad for the subject to turn away from him a little as he tossed the ball back to the stranger.

“My parents adopted me after my own parents were murdered.” Liam nearly dropped his stick out of shock when he heard that. The young man though, didn’t seem to notice and continued, “Felt like I had something to prove to people who I didn’t know and who weren’t even alive. Suddenly, I had to be the best at everything.”

The person then threw the ball back to Liam who caught it easily. Then, as he threw it back, he said, “I take it from your tone, you weren’t successful?”

“Not so much as unsuccessful, more as I realized there were more important things than just being the best at something.” The brunette replied. He then threw the ball in the air a little, caught it, then tossed it back to Liam, wondering, “So, why are you angry right now?”

Liam had to lift up his stick higher to catch the ball that time, but he caught successfully, then lowered his head as shame started to colour his face. He wasn’t sure it he should answer that question. Already he had opened up more to this stranger than he meant too, and he was still having a bit of a hard time processing himself what he had all done to Scott, but there was something about this person that just seemed, safe. Not as safe as Liam always felt with his Alpha, or any of the other members of the pack, but it was close to it. His Mom told him when she wanted him to have some therapy when they discovered he had IED, that sometimes, it was easier to talk to a stranger than it was to a friend. Maybe, she was right.

“I um, got mad at a friend of mine. He made me a promise, and when it didn’t seem like he was even trying to keep it, I kind of, attacked him.” Liam admitted reluctantly, glancing up at the brunette in time to see his eyebrows rise a little in shock. The stranger didn’t say anything though, nor did Liam smell any fear coming from him, so the young werewolf believed it was okay to continue.

“Then, my girlfriend,” Liam started, then tossed the ball back to his practice partner before finishing, “She’s mad at me because I wasn’t able to help her when I said I would.”

“Sounds complicated.” The brunette stated, catching the ball with such ease that didn’t surprise Liam if the person had actually been a captain at his old school. As the young man tossed the ball back, he asked, “Are you mad at them, or yourself?”

Liam again easily caught the ball, but instead of getting it ready to toss it back, he turned his stick over so the ball fell to the ground, then said, “I’m mad at my friend because I still don’t understand why he couldn’t keep his promise, but I’m also mad at myself because I shouldn’t have attacked him, he didn’t deserve that. And I’m mad at myself for not being strong enough to help my girlfriend.”

“I’d be pretty angry too if I was in your shoes.” The stranger responded. He waited for about a minute, wondering if the young blonde was going to say anything else, but when he didn’t, the brunette asked, “What are you going to do about it?”

“I want to make it right, with both my friend and my girlfriend. The problem is, I don’t really know how.” Liam answered, shrugging his shoulders before he raised his head up and met the stranger’s blue eyes.

“Well, keep trying. You might not get it right on the first try, or even the second, but once they both see that you are trying, they’ll ease up on you. By then, hopefully the answer will be clear.” The young man told him. 

“And if they still want nothing to do with me?” Liam wondered, knowing there was a chance that Scott wouldn’t take him back after what he did to him, and there was chance Hayden would always see him as the person who let her die and would just push him away from her.

“Then, that’s their choice. You can try and change their mind, but don’t let them walk over you.” The young man advised him. Liam nodded, easily seeing the logic in the stranger’s words.

“How are you in the goalie position?” The young man suddenly asked, looking over at the goal about 45 feet to his left before looking back at Liam.

“Oh I never let any get in the goal.” Liam replied, smiling cockily at him.

The brunette quickly grinned back and said, “We’ll see about that.”

Liam quickly jogged over to the goal and for the next hour, he let all of his worries and cares slip away from his shoulders and just enjoyed practicing the game he loved.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

About two hours after Liam left the lacrosse field at the high school, he drove to the animal clinic. He had originally gone home, but quickly became bored with just sitting around, waiting for something to happen. The stranger who he was practicing lacrosse with offered him a ride home after they decided they both had enough practicing, but Liam knew better to accept rides from strangers despite how comfortable he felt with him. He did ask him what his name was as they were walking to their own cars

“Scott? You here?” Liam asked loudly, his voice just shy of yelling. He then pounded the door when a few seconds passed without any response. The sophomore waited another minute or so before he turned around, and started heading back to his Mom’s car.

Liam wasn’t really surprised that Scott wasn’t there. After all, it had only been a few hours since Scott’s Mom told him that the senior had left town to get Kira and knew that odds were that they wouldn’t be back already. Then again, he didn’t know when Scott had left either. But even if he had returned to the city, the blonde doubted that his Alpha would come to the animal clinic at this hour. He had to check though, just to make sure.

Before Liam could reach the car though, another car, one that seemed vaguely familiar drove up and parked beside him. He waited, wondering if it was Scott, or maybe Lydia as Malia couldn’t drive, Kira wasn’t in Beacon Hills, and Stiles had his jeep. To his complete shock though, it wasn’t any of them. It was Hayden who got out of the driver’s seat and started walking towards him.

“Hayden.” Liam said with surprise. As she came closer to him, Liam asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I, um, came to see you.” Hayden answered as she came to a stop a few feet in front of him, looking about as nervous as he felt.

“Why?” Liam wondered, not sure exactly why she would be looking for him and unwilling to get his hopes up in case her reason wasn’t the one he wanted it to be. Hayden lowered her gaze, looking as though she was struggling to find a way to explain whatever was going on with her. It took her about a minute before she was looking for.

“Ever since I, since I died, I haven’t felt right. Everything is confusing.” Liam wasn’t surprised by that. Dying would obviously have an effect on someone

“Tracy, Josh, and Corey are feeling the same way. And Theo,” Hayden paused, trying to think of a way to explain it before deciding to say, “There’s something different with him too. He wasn’t like he was when he was with you guys.”

Liam scoffed at Hayden’s understatement, then quickly remembered that she probably had no idea what Theo was really doing when he was pretending to be with Scott’s pack, and Liam told her, “Yeah, he’s not a good guy. We found that out the hard way.”

Hayden stared, unsure of what Liam was talking about, but quickly brushed it aside and continued, “But, whenever I’m around you, everything’s clear.”

“What are you saying?” Liam asked, still not understanding what Hayden was trying to say.

Taking a deep breath, Hayden took a step close to Liam and reached over and grabbed his hands, griping them tightly as she said, “I’m saying, I want to be with you. Despite everything, I want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you too.” Liam whispered, smiling a little as he did so. Hayden smiled in return and leaned closer to him. Liam leaned forward too, and they kissed. It was only a short one as Liam pulled away with a serious expression on his face.

“Hayden, there are some things you need to know about Theo though.” Liam told her, needing her to know how dangerous Theo really was, what kind of person he proved himself to be.

“What?” Hayden asked, a worried expression again slowly rising on her face. Liam took a deep breath, then started to explain everything that he knew that Theo had done.


	13. Saving a Fox and a Friendship

Scott and Stiles drove throughout the entire night, switching places every now and then so they could each get some rest without having to stop and sleep in a hotel. They did make several stops though. Every town they came across, they stopped to fill the Jeep with gas so it was always full. Stiles said it was because he didn’t want to risk running out and getting stranded. While Scott could easily understand that, he had sneaking suspicion that there was something wrong with either the gas gage or the tank. He didn’t say anything about it though.

They drove mostly in silence, but it wasn’t as tense as it had been lately which was nice. About 4 hours after they left Beacon Hills, the silence was broken when Scott got a text on his new cell phone from Jackson, informing him that Liam had been looking for him.

When Stiles asked who was texting him, Scott told him and what it was about. It was then the werewolf remembered he hadn’t told his best friend about how Liam attacked him on the night of the supermoon. When Stiles then wanted to know why Liam was looking for him, Scott knew he had to tell him what happened. Or at least, the part with Liam, as Scott still didn’t want his best friend to know about how Theo showed up after his beta left and then killed him.

Stiles took it all in complete silence, and though it was clear to Scott that his was trying to process it all, and control his reactions to it, the werewolf could smell the shock, anger, and fear from his best friend. Once Scott finished telling him everything, minus the being killed by Theo part, Stiles asked it Scott was going to talk to his beta at all, but the Alpha said he didn’t know. The human then told him that if he wanted to get the band back together, you don’t leave out the drummer. The two teenagers fell back into the nearly complete silence again as Scott thought about what Stiles said.

In the early to mid morning, the two teenagers were driving down a long stretch of road that never seemed to end. It had been over an hour since they had last seen a sign, and there weren’t any turns around either, none that seemed to really go anywhere anyways. They were both starting to wonder if they had taken a wrong turn or something.

“Are you sure we took the right turn?” Stiles asked after about an hour of silence with no turns or street signs. Scott looked back down at the map and nodded.

“Pretty sure.” Scott replied, reading the map carefully. When he raised his head up, he saw they were driving towards a road sign and said, “Oh, yeah we did. The sign’s up ahead.”

As Stiles nodded, letting him know that he heard him and also saw the sign, Scott leaned down to get the bottle of water, grimacing in pain when he pulled the muscles in his shoulder and right part of his chest where his wounds were. Once he was sitting back upright though, he glanced over at his friend from the corner of his eye, nervous that Stiles might have noticed, and he mentally started to come up with a reason. However, it didn’t seem that the human had seen anything, his eyes staring straight ahead on the road, which Scott was grateful for.

Despite the fact that the AC was blasting cold air as much as it could, it was still extremely hot in the Jeep, making the small environment more uncomfortable than it already was. Scott then cranked open his window and stuck his head halfway outside, hoping that the wind from outside was cooler. After a minute of doing that though, he saw Stiles glance over at him from the corner of his eye, and he was smiling.

“What?” Scott wondered, not really sure what Stiles had found amusing.

“Nothing, just remembering that time we were tracking Lydia and you actually stuck your head out of the window like a dog to find her by her scent.” Stiles recalled, still smiling. Scott let out a chuckle as he remembered that night. He remembered feeling like a dog himself when he did that. Allison told him that she thought the same thing when saw him do that.

Allison. Ever since that night when he died and saw her, Scott had a hard time getting her off his mind. He kept thinking about his promise to her, to bring their friends, his pack back together, kept thinking about how much easier it would be if she was here with him, if she didn’t die. Even when they were broken up, she always stood by him, was always by his side. He wondered if she was still alive, if she would have been manipulated by Theo like the rest of them were, if she would have left him like everyone else did.

He really missed her. While Scott did love Kira and wanted to be with her, he couldn’t deny that there was a part of him that was still in love with Allison even though she had been gone for months. She was his first in love, she had a piece of his heart and always would. Sometimes, Scott wished he could go back to those days when his biggest concern was not shifting on the lacrosse field.

“What?” Stiles asked when he saw the strange expression on his friend’s face, effectively breaking his friend out of his reverie.

“Just thinking, life was lot easier back then. I kind of miss it.” The werewolf replied, keeping his eyes on the horizon.

“Yeah, me too.” Stiles said quietly, remembering how back then, their biggest problems were keeping Scott from going crazy on a full moon and keeping Allison’s family from knowing that they were still dating. Man, how times changed.

Scott looked over at Stiles, who was still concentrating on driving, but could see there was a somewhat distant look in his eyes, like he was lost in thought. As he watched, Scott wondered if he should bring about the subject of what happened with Donovan. He was now fairly sure that Theo had been lying to him before, or at least, left out certain, important parts of the story, but he wanted to hear it from his best friend. Needed to hear it from him, and since they were now alone, without any way that Stiles could push him away or leave, now was as good a time as any.

“Stiles,” Scott began slowly, a little nervous about how Stiles was going to react, but continued, “I want you to tell me what happened with Donovan.”

The sheriff’s son immediately tensed as Scott smelled the anxiety coming off the teenager in waves. It was so strong that the werewolf was starting to regret bringing it up, but as Stiles didn’t say anything, didn’t protest or object, Scott decided to wait for his friend to respond.

“I fell asleep in the library, in the school. When I woke up, it was really late, so I started heading to my Jeep, and Donovan attacked me from behind.” Stiles began, pausing for a minute as the memories of that night started running through his head.

“I ran back to the library, I tried to climb the scaffold, and, there was this metal pin. I pulled it, thinking that it would help me climb up further, but, all these metal bars fell down. One of them went straight through him.” Stiles stopped there as he couldn’t get the words ‘it killed Donovan almost instantly’ out of his mouth, but Scott didn’t need to hear it. He was focused on another detail, a detail he wasn’t aware of at all.

“He was trying to kill you.” Scott stated in complete shock. Someone had tried to kill his best friend since childhood, and Stiles didn’t tell him about it all. A small voice in the werewolf’s head reminded him that he was doing the same thing to him, but Scott ignored it. After all, those were different circumstances and he was hiding it for different reasons.

“Yeah.” Stiles confirmed, keeping his gaze straight ahead as he was still scared to see what kind of expression Scott was wearing.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Scott then demanded, not angrily, but more desperately.

“Because, I broke your one, major rule. No killing.” Stiles answered then continued, “The way you were looking at me that night. I was terrified that you would look at me like that, and you did.”

“Theo told me you did it on purpose. I wanted to know if it was true or not. I had been smelling the guilt and anxiety on you for weeks. When you didn’t deny it, I assumed it was true.” Scott explained his side of the story. Now that he did know the truth about what happened, not only did he feel guilty for believing Theo, he now felt guilty for actually believing that his best friend would go and murder someone even though there had been several times when Stiles said that they should just kill some of their enemies.

“You could’ve told me.” Scott told him after a minute of silence, “I know what self defense is.”

“I could barely admit to myself what I had done. Telling anyone else, would’ve made it real. I didn’t want it to be real.” Stiles responded. Scott didn’t need any further explanation then that. He went through the same thing after Allison died. He knew what happened, but he couldn’t actually say the words that Allison was dead for a while because there was a small part of him that believed if he didn’t say it, it wouldn’t have been real.

“I just wish we would’ve kept talking, if only for a few minutes. We would’ve realized there were two stories.” Scott spoke up after another brief moment of silence.

“He knew we wouldn’t.” Stiles told him, his voice quiet and a bit empty, like he was stating a cold and tragic fact which to Scott, it really was.

“I’m sorry.” The werewolf said with his head down and his voice filled with guilt.

“For not believing me about Theo?” The teenager behind the wheel questioned, not exactly sure what Scott was apologizing for.

“That, but also for making you feel like you couldn’t tell me about what really happened.” Scott explained, still keeping his head down so he couldn’t see what expression Stiles was wearing right now. He couldn’t believe that he somehow gave his best friend the idea that he couldn’t talk to him.

“Don’t worry about it. I couldn’t even tell my Dad, or Malia about it.” The brunette admitted, keeping his own gaze on the road as he didn’t want to know how Scott was looking at him right now as well.

“How did Theo know?” Scott wondered, finally lifting his head up to look over at Stiles.

“I have no idea. I guess he was there, not that he tried to help at all.” Stiles replied before adding, “I then saw him kill Josh, before he brought him back to life that is, but he told me that I couldn’t tell you because he didn’t tell you about Donovan.”

“So you were trusting Theo to keep a secret from me?” Scott checked to see if he had that right with a confused and slightly accusing tone. It didn’t really make that much since to the Alpha that the human was so upset with him for trusting the chimera when he himself had trusted him.

“Yeah and look where it got me, where it got us.” Stiles reminded him angrily as he easily caught the slight accusation.

“Stiles, the reason you and I always managed to get through everything we did get through, was because we trusted each other.” Scott reminded him with a calm and gentle voice so his friend would calm down as he really didn’t want to start a fight. They had been doing enough of that lately.

“I know.” The owner of the Jeep responded with a slightly dejected tone.

“So, if we’re going to get the others back and stop Theo and the Dread Doctors, we need to trust each other again.” Scott then told him.

“I know. Trusting, just doesn’t come easily to me.” Stiles informed him, actually sounding a little upset that he couldn’t trust people, or see the good in them like Scott could.

“I know. But, Stiles, if you live your life without trusting anyone, you’re going to be pretty lonely even though you’re surrounded by people who do care about you.” Scott told him with a gentle and caring tone. He had always known that Stiles was one of those people who didn’t need everyone to be his friend nor did he want it. He was content with just a few, really close ones, but as more people joined the pack, Stiles had become more and more concerned about those he didn’t know, and was far less willing to trust them until they proved otherwise.

Stiles thought about what Scott said for a minute. He knew his friend was right, that his trust issues put up walls that kept him from connecting with others, growing up with his Dad as the sheriff, he knew just how quickly people could turn on each other. That was the last thing he wanted someone to do to him. Before he could say anything to Scott about that though, he saw a large storm cloud in the distance that seemed to be touching the ground, lighting flashing all around it.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Stiles questioned with a mix of shock and curiosity.

“Kira. Step on it!” Scott practically ordered with a desperate and fearful tone. Stiles didn’t need to be told twice as he pushed his foot down on the gas pedal and steered the Jeep in the direction of the storm.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

With Stiles going as fast as he was, it didn’t take long for them to get to the spot where the storm was, though by the time they did get there, the storm was gone. Since the storm was now gone though, and the sun was still shining brightly, the two quickly spotted five people, two of them familiar, the other three not.

“She’s there!” Scott yelled, pointing at the five figures ahead of them, easily recognizing his girlfriend among them. Stiles continued speeding until they reached the spot where Kira and her mother were. Seeing that three other women who were there with the kitsunes had weapons and looked as though they were about to attack them, the minute Stiles stopped the Jeep, Scott opened the door and rolled out until he reached his girlfriend’s side, then roared loudly at the three women.

“Come on! We gotta go!” Stiles shouted from his spot in the car. Kira rushed over and climbed in the back seat, quickly followed by Scott.

“Go, go, go!” Scott told his friend as he got into the back seat while Kira’s Mom came in behind him, sitting in the passenger seat beside Stiles as she slammed the door shut. Stiles immediately slammed his foot on the gas and sped off away from the three women who stood and watched. They didn’t even bother to chase them, clearly knowing they wouldn’t catch up to them.

“Is everyone okay?” Stiles asked after being sure they were now safe. Mrs. Yukimura nodded, looking a little breathless and shocked by everything that just happened. Stiles then looked up at the review mirror to see if Scott and Kira were okay.

To his surprise, not only did they not appear to have heard him, they were caught up in their own little reunion as they were full on making out, not seeming to care that he and Kira’s Mom were there. He glanced over at Mrs. Yukimura and could easily tell from her expression that she noticed what her daughter and her boyfriend were doing.

“You came back for me.” Kira said with a breathless tone once she and Scott broke apart. Scott gave her a small, sincere smile and nodded, a little stunned that Kira seemed surprised that he came to get her.

“I love you. I love you so much.” The kitsune told him with a happy voice. Scott’s smile widened, then he leaned forward and started kissing her again, which she returned whole-heartedly.

Stiles looked at them over his shoulder and also smiled, happy to see that Scott and Kira were together again, and slightly amused that they were making out in the backseat of the Jeep, still seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that he and Kira’s Mom were in the vehicle with them. But when Stiles saw the older kitsune smile a little herself at the sight, he kept from saying anything to the two as he continued driving away from Shiprock and back home to Beacon Hills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kira’s storyline with the skinwalkers remains the same as it did in the show, which is why I didn’t show any of it really. Sorry if that was something you guys wanted to see, but as I’m not changing anything, I didn’t feel any need to write about it. Hope you guys liked this chapter! Next one will get to Malia and what’s going on with her. See you all next time!


	14. The Desert Wolf

Despite the fact that it was Monday morning and she should be in school, Malia wasn’t there at all. She was at the animal clinic, searching through all of Deaton’s files for anything about her mother. When Braeden arrived at her house after she called her for help in hunting her mother, the Desert Wolf, she told her about how she heard that the assassin was making her way to Beacon Hills with a hostage, who was none other than Deaton.

Since Deaton had been the emissary to Talia Hale’s pack, her biological aunt, Malia knew that Deaton would have to have some sort of record or something like that of her mother. He just had too. And that was why the werecoyote was skipping the morning to search the clinic for any sign or clue that might be hidden away about who her mother was and where she might be. She was so focused on her task though, that she didn’t hear someone else entering the building and coming into the room.

“Hello Malia.” The werecoyote froze when she heard the greeting, easily recognizing the voice. She took a small breath, not only to confirm that it was Theo but also to make sure there wasn’t anyone else around. When she didn’t catch anyone else’s scent, she turned around to see the chimera standing behind her with a small smile. Anger filled her entire body and she charged him, pushing him against the wall and putting her arm against his neck hard as she tried to think of how she wanted to kill him, wanting vengeance for everything he had done to her friends.

“Whoa, you’re angry.” Theo stated, but he didn’t seem scared or intimated at all. In fact, he actually looked like he was enjoying the anger on her face and her arm against his neck.

“You really surprised by that?” Malia questioned, pushing her arm harder against the chimera’s neck but not hard enough to suffocate him.

“I think you might wanna calm down, if you want me to help you that is.” Theo responded, the smile still on his face.

“After everything you’ve done to me and my friends, you really think I’m going to trust you?” Malia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She still wasn’t sure about the exact details of what all happened, but she knew that Theo was trying to break up her pack, was a chimera, and was working with the Dread Doctors. And yet, here he was acting like he was still better than everyone. It made Malia want to claw his lips off so he couldn’t smile that stupid, cocky grin.

“I think that you’re after your mother. And since you aren’t planning on a happy reunion, you aren’t going to be getting any help from Scott or the rest of your pack. That means you’re going through this all alone. I can help you.” Theo answered, dropping the cocky expression and smile, instead looking like he was dead serious. Slowly, Malia pulled her arm away. Though she didn’t trust Theo at all, if he actually could help her on her solo mission, then might not hurt to use him to her advantage.

“Why do you want to help me?” Malia wondered, not exactly sure why Theo, if he had his own pack and his own plans, he would bother helping her.

“I can’t just help someone who needs it?” When Malia gave him a pointed look, he said, “Okay fine. Your mother has something that I want. I’ll help you find her and take her down in exchange for what I need.”

“And what is it she has that you want?” The werecoyote inquired, knowing that if her mother had something that Theo wanted badly enough to risk coming to her even though he had to know that she knew that he had done and would attack him, it had to be something very important.

“It’s nothing that you need to know.” Theo replied, then held out his hand, asking, “Do we have a deal?”

“Fine.” Malia said after a brief moment of hesitation, though she didn’t shake his hand. Already she was feeling like she was going to regret this, but she ignored it and asked, “How are we going to find her?”

“With something in the Dread Doctors’ lair.” Theo answered with a grin, holding up a syringe.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

With only one more class left in his school day, Liam was eager to get to the class only so he could get it done and over with so he could go home. He quickly made his way to his locker, opened it and reached for his books, putting everything in his school bag so he could just leave at the end of the class instead of making another trip to his locker.

“Liam!” The sophomore instinctively turned around once he heard his name being called and was surprised to see that it was Malia who was calling him and was also walking over to him with a determined look on her face that slightly scared the werewolf.

“Malia. Hey, what’s up?” Liam questioned, sliding his school bag over his shoulder so he could head straight to class once he was done talking to the senior.

“I need you tell Scott something.” Malia got right to the point, just like she always did. Liam immediately felt nervous at the thought of talking to the Alpha, since he still hadn’t spoken to him since that night. As far as he was aware of, Scott was still getting Kira from Mexico.

“Um, we’re kinda not talking really right now.” Liam replied. Seeing the slightly confused look in Malia’s eyes, the young werewolf quickly realized that she didn’t know what he had tried to do to their Alpha on the night of the supermoon.

“Well, start talking, and tell him he was right about the sewer tunnels. There’s an amphitheatre down there. That’s where the Dread Doctors’ have been staying.” Malia told him with a somewhat urgent tone.

“Wait, how do you know this?” Liam wondered, completely confused by what the werecoyote was saying, and why.

“It doesn’t matter. Just tell Scott he was right.” Malia ignored his question, going back to telling him what to do. Before Liam could again ask her how she found the Dread Doctors’ lair, she turned around and walked briskly away.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Malia waited until the sun had set and night had fallen before she and Theo drove to the abandoned factory where she saw her mother holding Deaton hostage with the weird, painful, goggles Theo had put on her in the Dread Doctors lair. She texted Braeden the address and told her when to be there, but the former US Marshal demanded to know how she knew where the Desert Wolf was. Malia then revealed to her Theo’s involvement and explained how she wanted to ambush her mother. Somehow, Braeden had been made aware of who Theo was and what he had done because she immediately rejected her plan, but the werecoyote simply told her that she was going with or without her. Reluctantly, Braeden then agreed to come and help.

“Here we are.” Theo stated as he and Malia climbed out of his car while Braeden got off her motorcycle. As soon as the teenagers reached the mercenary’s side, she turned to face the werecoyote.

“Are you sure about this Malia?” Braeden couldn’t help but ask again. She had been asking her that ever since she learned of teenager’s plan, especially when Malia revealed Theo’s part in it.

“I have to do this Braeden.” The young woman insisted. Braeden didn’t look happy about it, but she relented, knowing that Malia was going to go through with this if she was here or not. And she decided it would be better if she was there backing the werecoyote for if and when this plan went sideways.

“Okay, let’s go.” Braeden said. Holding her shotgun tightly in both of her hands, she nodded at Malia, silently telling her to lead the way. Malia quickly got the message and started walking towards the old, abandoned factory with all of her senses on high alert. Braeden and Theo followed right behind her.

The three did their best to enter the building quietly, and somewhat sneakily, but Malia was on a mission and she didn’t have the patience to go slow and quiet. The place was dusty, and moldy, and completely empty. The only thing that she could see where large wooden pillars spread evenly across the main floor.

“Wait, something’s wrong.” Malia suddenly stopped. She had no idea what was wrong, but there was something in her stomach, something in her instincts telling her that something was off, something was going on that wasn’t good. She took a slow and careful step to the side to see that there was a person sitting on a chair all the way on the other side of the room, tied to it, and was gagged. It’s only took a few seconds for Malia to realize who it was.

“Deaton.” The werecoyote whispered the vet’s name and started walking in his direction when suddenly, a figure appeared from behind the captive and put a gun against his temple. With her were-eyes, Malia easily saw that the person was a woman, probably somewhere in her late 30’s to early 40’s with either really dark brown hair, or black hair. The teenager immediately knew who it was.

“Hello Malia.” The assassin said to her daughter, whose eyes instantly turned blue as a low growl sounded in her in throat.

“And it’s Braeden, right? Haven’t seen you around lately. Figured you’d finally gotten the hint that you would never get me.” The Desert Wolf turned her attention to the bounty hunter beside Malia.

“I’ve found you now, haven’t I?” Braeden replied, keeping her gun pointed at the woman she had been hunting for years.

“True, but that doesn’t mean you have the upper hand.” It was then that the Desert Wolf turn to Theo, and with her free hand, she pulled something out of her pocket and said, “This was what you wanted, right Theo?”

“Yup.” Theo confirmed, and easily caught the object as she threw it to him. Once he had what he wanted, he turned to face Malia who was giving him a look that was a mix of fury and betrayal. With a half-smirk, he apologized, “Sorry Malia, but I have my own plans.”

“You little,” Malia never got finish the sentence she was in the middle of saying as she started to move to attack the chimera, because gunshots started to ring out, making her and Braeden run for cover while Theo ran out of the building and away from the fight.

The shooting didn’t last very long. The Desert Wolf stopped firing once Braeden and Malia were hidden behind the large pillars in the building, knowing that she would have to save her bullets. However, when Malia felt slightly safer, she noticed a sudden, burning pain in her shoulder. She looked down and saw that she had been hit by one of the bullets.

“What’s the phrase parents teach their kids again? ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’? Is that it?” The Desert Wolf wondered out loud as she stalked away from Deaton and towards the place where she had seen Braeden and Malia duck for cover.

“You’re not my parent. You tried to kill me.” Malia knew she should stay quiet, that it would help her stay hidden for longer, but that fact that this woman who had tried to kill her when she was only nine years old pretending to act like her mother made the teenager’s blood boil.

“You took something from me. I was just trying to take back what’s mine.” The Desert Wolf replied, coming closer to Malia’s location, “I wasn’t successful at first, but now I will be.”

Suddenly, the assassin was right in front of Malia and was pointing her handgun right at her forehead. Before she could pull the trigger though, more shots rang out, this time though, from Braeden, who had snuck up behind the Desert Wolf. Malia again got out of the way while her biological mother turned around and hit Braeden on the head with the butt of her gun. The mercenary fell to the ground unconscious and the Desert Wolf rushed after Malia, firing her own gun again.

The teenager again started running to get out of the line of fire, knowing that the assassin was an expert shot and would shoot her before she could attack her if she went straight at the older woman. If she was going to get to her mother, it would have be with a sneak attack.

But Malia didn’t manage to get out of the way in time. That was made very clear to the young werecoyote when she felt another sharp pain right above her right hip as a bullet tore through her body, causing her to fall to the ground. By the time Malia managed to turn to get ready to get back up, the Desert Wolf was standing in front of her, again pointing the gun right at her head and Malia knew that there was no way she was fast enough to escape the bullet her mother was about to fire.

“Get away from her!” A loud, cold, threatening voice yelled. Malia felt her heartbeat faster, but not because of any fear. But because she recognized that voice, and knew that the Desert Wolf was in trouble.

Her biological mother turned her head to look to the side, as did Malia, just in time to see a figure jump from the second floor and land gracefully on the main floor which they were on. Malia smiled when she saw that she was indeed right about who it was. Derek Hale, and he looked extremely ticked off at the woman who was currently pointing a gun right at her.

What surprised both of the werecoyotes even more though was the sound of someone approaching on the other side. When they both looked over, they saw a young woman, probably a teenager around Malia’s age with long brown hair and yellow glowing eyes. Even though Malia had never seen her before, the young woman looked about as happy as Derek did with what was happening right now.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, causing the Desert Wolf to duck and take a few steps backwards. Derek and the young woman then charged the assassin while Malia lowered her head for cover as more shots started ringing out. When the high school senior looked, she found that it was Braeden, who had now regained consciousness and was shooting at the woman she had spent years hunting down.

Malia tuned out what was happening after that. The bullets were still lodged in her left shoulder and above her right hip, causing spikes of pain to run through her entire body with every move she made. So, with her claws, she clenched her teeth tightly and pulled them out as Braeden, Derek, and the mystery girl took care of dealing with her mother.

Once the bullets were out of her body, Malia pushed herself up to her feet and she walked painfully over to Deaton, who was still sitting tied to the chair, gagged. He looked very worried, but it seemed to go away when he saw that she was walking. Malia used her claws to cut through the ropes holding his arms down, and once he was free, he pulled off the cloth gag while she bent down and freed his legs. When she stood back up, she saw the mystery girl coming over to them.

“You okay?” The girl with long brown hair asked as she walked over to the werecoyote, looking mildly concerned though she also had a somewhat irritated look in her brown eyes.

“Yeah.” Malia replied before asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m Cora, Cora Hale. I’m Derek’s younger sister, and your cousin I guess.” The girl, Cora, answered. Malia’s eyebrows shot up a little hearing that. Though she hadn’t known Derek for very long, he had never mentioned he had a sister at all.

“Nice to meet you. Thanks for the help.” Malia told her, offering her hand to her cousin. Cora looked at it, and after a moment of hesitation, took it and gave it a firm shake.

“Nice to meet you too, and you’re welcome.” Cora responded, quickly letting go of Malia’s hand as Derek came over to the two of them. He looked them over, then placed his hand on Cora’s shoulder as he faced their cousin.

“You alright Malia?” He wondered, again looking her over, specifically at her left shoulder and the right side of her waist where she had been shot.

“I’m fine, thanks to you guys. What are you doing here?” Malia replied, still somewhat surprised that they were even there. She hadn’t heard anything from or about Derek since he left with Braeden when they were all in Mexico.

“Well, I was with Braeden when you called her, and Scott also called me and told me what was going on. Figured you could all use a hand.” Derek answered.

“Yeah.” _Understatement_ , Malia thought to herself, then looked over at the vet who was still getting up off the floor and asked, “You okay Deaton?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for rescuing me.” Deaton replied with a small, grateful smile as he pulled the remaining ropes off his wrists.

“No problem.” Malia said, giving him a very small grin. She then looked back to Derek and asked, “Did you guys get her?”

Malia felt her heart drop a little when Derek shook his head and said, “No, she got away. We’ll get her though. I promise.”

“We better get out of here, just in case someone heard the fighting and gunshots.” Braeden told them, picking up one of her guns off the ground. Nobody needed to be told that twice, nor did anyone want to hang around. So, without another word, the two humans, two werewolves, and the werecoyote walked out of the abandoned factory to get back into town and to safety.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

About an hour later, Malia finished cleaning herself off in the animal clinic. She wasn’t hurt that badly and healed rather quickly, but she would need to toss out her shirt when she got home. She might’ve been able to get the blood stains out, but there wasn’t anything she could do about the holes.

Deaton, Braeden, Derek, and Cora weren’t hurt that much either. Her mother hadn’t hurt Deaton and since Derek and Cora took her by surprise, the Desert Wolf didn’t get close enough, nor did she get the time to fire her gun at them, at least, not well enough to actually hit them. And besides a small cut on her head from being hit by her mother’s gun, Braeden was also fine. After they left the factory, they went straight to the animal clinic to get cleaned up, and it was then Derek called Scott to let him know what happened.

The werecoyote wasn’t sure how she felt about her Alpha knowing what she had been trying to do. While Malia had no doubt in her mind that Scott would be happy that she, and the other three with her managed to save Deaton, who was a father figure to him, she had no idea how he was going to react to the knowledge that she was planning on killing her mother.

If there was one thing everyone in the pack knew about their leader, is that he was against killing people, always insisting there was also another way. Granted, he didn’t know about how her mother, Corrine, Deaton said her name was, tried to kill her when she was a child and caused the car crash which caused her to shift and inadvertently kill her adoptive mother and little sister. And considering she just tried to kill her again, Scott might be more understanding about her decision, but she didn’t know for sure. When Malia heard the familiar sound of Scott’s bike though, she knew she was about to find out.

“Malia, are you okay?” Scott asked the minute he opened the door to the vet clinic, having seen that Malia was in the waiting room through the window. Stiles, Lydia, and Kira were right behind him and all looked just as concerned as he did.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks to Derek and Cora, and Braeden.” Malia answered, turning to face him as he came over to stand in front of her, his eyes scanning her for injuries. Though he found some blood on her clothes, he could see that whatever injuries she had, had already healed.

Satisfied that she was indeed okay, Scott looked her straight in the eye and with a quiet but serious voice, he asked, “Did you do whatever you needed to do?”

“Not exactly, but I did do something else. I found someone who has been missing for a while.” Malia replied. Scott was about to ask her what she was talking about when he heard someone coming out of the exam room, and was hit by a familiar scent. He looked over to see the person who had left Beacon Hills months ago with his own eyes.

“Hello Scott.” Deaton said with a smile. Scott gave him a relieved smile back and walked over to him. Once he was close enough, the vet wrapped his arms around the teenager and pulled him into a tight embrace, which the werewolf was quick to return.

Malia, Kira, Lydia, and Stiles watched the reunion between Scott and his surrogate father with smiles before the banshee walked over to the werecoyote, putting her hand on the brunette’s shoulder to get her attention.

“So, does this mean you’re back with us?” Lydia wondered with a soft voice once Malia had turned to face her.

“Yeah, I think so. For now, at least.” Malia responded with a short nod.

While she did indeed want to be with her friends, with her pack, she still had to deal with her mother and if tonight was any indication, it would only end with either her own death, or her mother’s. And if she did kill her mother, odds were that Scott wouldn’t want her to be in the pack anymore. But, until they dealt with that, Malia had no problem helping the pack deal with Theo and the Dread Doctors. After all, this was her town, and these were friends too, and she would do everything she could to protect them.


	15. Unexpected Help

Liam couldn’t stop thinking about what Malia had told him Monday afternoon. It was on his mind constantly as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on, not just with the werecoyote, but with what she had said about Scott being right. He knew that when he and Hayden had been taken by the Dread Doctors that Scott, Malia and Mason had been looking for them. Had they gone into the tunnels? Were they actually a lot closer to finding them than they thought? Feeling a strong desire to know the truth himself, the minute school was over the next day, Liam headed towards the entrance to the sewer tunnels under the city.

Even though Malia told him to tell Scott about what she had learned, Liam didn’t call him, or go over to his house or the clinic to see him. He knew he probably should, especially since it could be dangerous for him to go down to find the Dread Doctors lair and they happened to be there, and Liam did try to dial the number for Scott’s house since his phone what broken, but he couldn’t. He had no idea if Scott was even back from Mexico, had no idea if Scott would talk to him, and had no idea if he would want to join him or not, or tell him to stay out it and go himself. After everything he had done, Scott would be totally justified in benching him from the fight.

So, the teenager decided to take his chances and went down into the tunnels under the city alone. He wasn’t sure how long he was down there, searching for any kind of door or turn that would lead him to the place where the Dread Doctors were apparently hiding out, but it was starting to feel like hours, and the more time that passed made Liam more and more frustrated.

“Where is it?” Liam mumbled to himself as he did a complete turn so he could look at all of his surroundings. It was then he realized that he had indeed been going in circles.

“Dang it!” The young werewolf shouted in anger. He then jumped a little though when he saw something in the shadows straight ahead of him. He had been so focused on his task he didn’t even think to look if anyone else was down here, and the smell of the sewers would easily mask their scent which was probably why he didn’t notice the person until now. Though he knew it was possible for the Dread Doctors to be down here, they wouldn’t be hiding like that, so it had to be someone else.

“Whoa.” Liam muttered, tensing up as the figure came out of the shadows. When he saw that it was only Scott, he relaxed a little and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I um, I followed you.” Scott revealed, looking about as nervous as Liam felt, which made the younger werewolf feel even more guilty as the only reason he could think of Scott being nervous around him was that he was scared about Liam attacking him again. It was totally justified and that just made it worse.

“Why are you following me?” Liam then asked, not moving a muscle because he still wasn’t sure how Scott was going to react. Though Scott didn’t seem mad at him when they ran into each other at the police station, they were surrounded by people, by deputies. It wasn’t exactly the best place to attack a teenager in vengeance for Liam trying to kill him earlier. Now though, they were completely alone and hidden.

“I just got back sometime last night with Stiles and Kira, and her mother. My Mom then told me that you had been looking for me. I saw you coming down here.” Scott explained before asking a question of his own, “Why are you down here.”

“Um, I was trying to see if this was the place where the Dread Doctors took me and Hayden. Malia told me that it was, that you were right.” Liam revealed, knowing that if he wanted to earn Scott’s forgiveness, he had to be honest with his Alpha, even though Scott might be mad at him for not immediately calling and telling him what was going on and for going down into the sewers alone. Scott didn’t look very mad though, he just looked, deep in thought or something.

“But, I have no idea where exactly their lair is.” Liam added when Scott still didn’t say anything, unable to handle the silence that his leader was giving him.

“There’s a turn back there that you keep passing. It’s easy to miss.” Scott told him, turning his attention back to the beta. Liam glanced over his shoulder as a thought suddenly came to him. He had been down there for at least two hours, maybe three. And he knew he had been going in circles which made sense if he had been missing a turn, but how long had Scott been down here watching him from the shadows?

“How many times have you watched me pass it?” Liam questioned.

“Five.” Scott admitted, looking slightly embarrassed that it had actually took him that long for him to reveal that he was down there. He brushed it off though and walked over to Liam, saying, “Come on. Let’s see if we can find it together.”

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

For another hour, the two walked through the tunnels in silence. Though Scott did spot and point out the turn that Liam had missed and they did start exploring the tunnels that it led to, they found nothing. The only thing Liam saw that was out of place was a strange, snake like cement design sticking out on one of the walls. He ignored it though as it wasn’t a door or a turn or a hole that could lead to the amphitheatre that Malia said was down here. After coming across it at least four times though, Liam tried to bite down the anger he felt as he realized he was again going in circles.

“You okay?” Scott finally asked, the smell of anxiety and frustration coming from Liam soon becoming the only thing the Alpha could smell despite being in the sewers.

“We’ve down here for hours, and we haven’t found anything!” Liam exclaimed loudly, throwing his arms up in frustration. Scott stayed quiet, waiting for his beta to calm back down before he said anything. It didn’t take long for Liam to get control of his anger, luckily.

“Sorry.” Liam immediately apologized, his voice quiet and somewhat filled with shame with his reaction.

“It’s okay. Everyone gets frustrated. We’ll find it, don’t worry.” Scott replied with a caring tone, putting his hand on Liam’s shoulder. The younger teenager though shook his head and turned so that his body was facing Scott and his hand was no longer on his shoulder.

“No, it’s not just that.” Liam said, his quiet voice becoming even more quiet, and Scott immediately knew what his beta was trying to get at.

“Liam,” Scott started, not exactly sure what he was going to say. All he really knew was that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to have this conversation right now. He was still pretty tired from the trip to and from Mexico, which would have been exhausting all by itself, but the wounds on his chest that still hadn’t fully healed had been making him more and more tired. Liam though, not noticing his Alpha’s exhaustion interrupted him.

“I’m sorry Scott. For, what I did, what I tried to do that night. I know that saying ‘sorry’ isn’t no where near enough to make up for what I did, but I am. I really am sorry.” Liam apologized, trying to meet Scott’s eyes so he knew that he was sincere, but couldn’t. The shame and guilt wouldn’t let him.

“I know Liam. I know.” Scott replied, again putting his hand on Liam’s shoulder. Liam still didn’t look up at him though. The fact that Scott didn’t seem mad at him, that it sounded as though he was forgiving him made the guilt so much worse. It would be easier if his Alpha had just gotten mad him, attacked him in payback for what he did because Liam knew he deserved it. He didn’t deserve the older werewolf’s forgiveness at all.

“Hey, look at me.” Scott said, with a gentle, authoritative tone that Liam couldn’t help but listen to. As soon as the high school senior saw that Liam was indeed meeting his eyes, seeing the guilt that was so raw in them, Scott said with his most sincere voice, “It’s okay. Believe me, I know how, intense, your first love can be. And with a supermoon and a skilled manipulator like Theo, know that I don’t blame you. It’s okay.”

Liam didn’t say anything for a moment, mostly because he didn’t know what to say. There was still a part of him that wanted Scott to lash out at him, to beat him up just like he had beaten his Alpha that night, and that part of him was strong. There was another, smaller part of him though that while was beyond grateful for his friend’s forgiveness, reminded him just how undeserving he was of it.

“We still have no idea where the Dread Doctors’ lair is. We’ve been down here for hours and all we’ve been doing is passing that weird snake thing on the wall.” Liam reminded him so he could try to brush off his thoughts, pointing at the snake-like spiral on the wall. Scott then turned around to look at the snake, just now noticing how strange it was, a snake on the wall down in a sewer tunnel. The Alpha then started walking towards it.

“What is it?” Liam questioned, seeing the way Scott was studying the snake and the area around it.

“There’s draft near here.” Scott told him. Liam then walked over to him and sure enough, he felt the small draft as well. He then watched as Scott put his hands on the snake and tried to turn it. He couldn’t do it though, which surprised Liam.

With Scott being an Alpha, and a True Alpha at that, he should’ve been strong enough to move it on his own, but appeared to be struggling right now. So Liam put his own hands on the snake and together they turned it into a complete rotation. When they both let go, they saw that a part of the wall beside it was gone, which led into another section or a room. However, another person was suddenly there and was pointing a gun at them.

“Whoa. Just us.” Scott said, quickly recognizing the man as Chris Argent, who also quickly recognized them and lowered his gun, putting it in the holster on his belt. Scott was about to enter the room, but stopped when he caught the scent of a man he hadn’t smelled in almost a whole year, and never wanted to smell again.

“You didn’t.” Scott practically demanded for Argent to tell him that he didn’t involve the man who almost killed them all. From the look on the hunter’s face though, he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“I didn’t have a choice.” Was the only defense Argent gave. Before Scott could respond to it though, the sound of heavy footsteps coming closer grab his attention as another figure came into view, one that was older with thin, white hair.

“Hello Scott.” Gerard greeted with a hoarsely voice. Scott let his eyes flash red at him, threatening the older man as his arm went out to push Liam back a little, not wanting his beta any closer to the psychopathic hunter than he needed to be.

“That’s a colour I haven’t seen on you before. It suits you.” Gerard told him, his tone making it sound like a compliment, but Scott knew that there was more to it than that. He just didn’t know what it was yet.

“Who’s the old guy?” Liam asked, feeling a little unedge due to the way both Scott and Argent were acting.

“Well, these two would probably call me a necessary evil, but you can call me Gerard.” The old man told him with a smile that wasn’t at all comforting to the beta. It made him feel a little like he was bug that the old man, Gerard, was going to enjoy crushing. Instinctively, Liam moved a little closer to his Alpha. Scott then dropped his arm as both Liam and Gerard seemed to get the message being sent to both of them. Gerard, to not make a move on the younger teenager and Liam, to not trust Gerard.

“He knows all the stories, all the legends. We are going to need him.” Argent old them, coming closer to Scott who kept shooting glances at Gerard, clearly not trusting the old man at all.

“He knows about the Dread Doctors and how to stop them?” Scott questioned, knowing that was the only sane reason for Argent to cure his father of the mountain ash poisoning.

“He knows even more than that. He knows what they are trying to do, what they’re trying to create.” Argent revealed, causing Scott’s eyebrows to shoot up a little in surprise. After all, how could a man in a nursing home know about the Dread Doctors and their plans?

“The chimeras?” Liam asked, wanting to know of they knew more about what was happening with Hayden and why they had changed her.

“The chimeras were just test runs.” Argent answered.

“Test runs for what?” Scott then questioned.

“For something a far, far worse than you can ever imagine.” Gerard spoke up, getting the werewolves’ complete attention. He then walked further into the room and only with an assuring nod from Argent, did Scott and Liam follow. They found that Gerard staring at the far wall and as they came closer, they saw that a bunch of the bricks had been pulled away, revealing a large painting of two monstrous looking creatures, one of them on fire, fighting each other.

“What’s this?” Scott asked, looking at the monster that wasn’t on fire.

“They called it ‘La Bete’. It means, The Beast. It’s a powerful werewolf who only wants to kill and destroy everything and everyone it can.” Argent answered, coming up behind Liam and Scott.

“And the one that’s on fire?” Liam chimed in, somehow finding the one on fire looking vaguely familiar but he had no idea why.

“It’s a hellhound.” Scott replied, then looked over at Liam and said, “Parrish.”

“Parrish is the hellhound?” Argent wondered. He knew that there was something different about the deputy, but he didn’t think that he was a hellhound.

“Yeah, Lydia figured it out.” Scott told him, then added, “She’s been talking to him about it ever since she realized what he is.”

After everything that happened, when Lydia found that Scott and Stiles were somewhat talking and were going to Mexico to get Kira, she had let them go to Mexico, her excuse being that she wanted to try and talk to both Malia and Parrish. They weren’t sure if she got a hold of Malia, but now that the werecoyote was back with them, she focused her attention on the Deputy.

“Good, we’re going to need his help to stop this thing if the Dread Doctors succeed.” Gerard said. Even though Scott knew the older hunter was right, he hated it.

“I feel like I know the answer to this, but what happens if we don’t stop this beast?” Liam asked.

“This happens.” Argent said as he leaned down and pushed the bricks at the bottom of the painting away, revealing the lower part of the image, which was that the monsters were fighting on top of a pile of dead bodies. Scott felt a wave of dread and fear course through him. He always knew that the Dread Doctors had to be stopped, but now he knew that he had do it before they created this monster. Otherwise, they could all die.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

About an hour later, Scott parked his bike beside his Mom’s spot in front of their house, though his Mom’s car was gone. She got stuck with another night shift tonight and wouldn’t be home until tomorrow morning. Behind him, he heard Liam park his own car, well, the car he borrowed from one of his parents. After they left the tunnels, he told Liam that he wanted him to come over. Surprisingly, Liam didn’t protest at all, or make any excuses to get out of it.

“You okay?” Scott asked as Liam got out of the car and came over to him. Once they had seen the picture of the dead bodies under the Beast and the hellhound, Liam got extremely quiet, which worried him.

“How on earth are we going to be able to stop the, La Bete, or whatever it’s called, along with stopping the Dread Doctors and Theo and his pack from whatever they’re planning?” Liam questioned, looking very worried and downright scared as well. Though Liam had gotten better at fighting and was more confident in joining the fights that they got into, Scott knew that he was still just a kid and was too young to be involved in stuff like this.

“Together.” Scott answered with a simple tone, like it should’ve been obvious.

“An Alpha, a kitsune, a werecoyote, a werewolf, a banshee, and a human are going to stop all of them? We can’t Scott. There’s not enough of us.” Liam somewhat objected. They had gone against the Dread Doctors before, and failed. And if Theo and his pack, minus Hayden because he knew that Hayden wouldn’t attack them, went after them with the Dread Doctors, there was no way they would get out alive.

“Trust me Liam, our pack is a lot bigger than you think.” Scott said with a smile that made it clear to the beta that the Alpha had something under his sleeve that he hadn’t revealed yet.

“How big?” Liam wondered, looking at Scott suspiciously.

“Come on inside.” Scott said, then walked up to the house and entered the building, holding the door open for Liam, who followed right behind him.

Liam couldn’t keep the surprised look off his face when he saw that the living room was packed full with people, some of them completely unrecognizable to the young werewolf. He obviously recognized Kira, Stiles, Malia, Lydia, and he saw Derek and Braeden near the corner of the room, who’s presence shouldn’t have surprised him, but there were three other guys and one girl that he had never seen before. It was then that one of the unfamiliar guys turned his head and Liam realized he did recognize him.

“Everyone, this is Liam.” Scott introduced his friends who had been gone to the newest member of his pack. They all either nodded or gave a small wave of acknowledgement, but Liam’s eyes were focused on one in particular.

“Wait, you were the guy who showed up at the lacrosse field.” Liam remembered.

With a nod, the teenager confirmed, “Yup. Name’s Jackson.”

“And this is Ethan, Isaac, and Derek’s sister Cora.” Scott introduced the other three that Liam hadn’t met yet.

“Wait, they’re all in the pack?” Liam asked, turning back to Scott. Though he knew Scott had been a werewolf for a while, and had probably knew more werewolves, he had no idea that there were more members in the pack as he had never met them and nobody ever really talked about them.

“Just because people move away Liam, doesn’t mean we stop being friends or caring about the people we left. Pack doesn’t end with leaving town.” Scott told him. Liam stared at the Alpha for a moment, then looked back at the group that had gathered. Looking at them, Liam was starting to believe that maybe they could handle Theo and the Dread Doctors. He nodded to Scott, and they both went over to join the group when suddenly, the doorbell started rang.

“Are you expecting someone else?” Liam asked, wondering if there were even more members of the pack that hadn’t arrived yet. Scott however, shook his head.

“No. I don’t think so.” The Alpha replied, and he went over to answer the door as all the werewolves and the werecoyote went high on alert, not sure who was at the door and if whoever it was, was a threat or not. As Scott opened the door, he surprised by who he saw.

“Mason.” Scott said, then noticed the three people with him, “Hayden? Corey? Tracy?”

“Can we come in?” Mason wondered, looking nervous and anxious. As Scott looked at the other three, he saw the same expressions on their faces along with fear.

“Yeah, sure.” Scott responded as he took a step back and allowed the four sophomores into his house.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked, coming over to Scott’s side when he saw who had arrived. Liam did the same, concerned for his best friend and girlfriend.

“There’s something you need to know.” Mason started, but stopped when he saw the crowd that had gathered in the house and asked, “Whoa. Who are these guys?”

“Friends of mine. What do I need to know?” Scott changed the subject back to whatever Mason had to tell them and why he and the chimeras that Theo had brought back from the dead were at his house.

“It’s about Theo.” Mason spoke for the chimeras, “He’s trying to figure out how the Dread Doctors are going to create this werewolf. Well, more accurately, bring back this werewolf from centuries ago. A really powerful one.”

“La Bete.” Scott broke in, which caused the group of younger teens to look at him in shock, clearly not expecting him to know that. And since his back was to the rest of the people in his house, he didn’t see their shocked expressions either. Liam was the only person who wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah. How do you know about it?” Mason wondered.

“We found the Dread Doctors lair.” Scott replied, glancing over at Liam, who nodded. The high school senior then looked back at Mason and asked, “Why does Theo care?”

“Because he wants the power of La Bete. He wants to become the most powerful werewolf.” Hayden chimed in, crossing her arms in an attempt to hide how scared she actually was. Liam saw through it immediately though, and out his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She then gave him a small smile when he did that.

“And he’s willing to kill us all to get it.” Tracy spoke up, which again caused everyone to stare in shock, though, not so much Scott and Derek. It wasn’t the first time they had heard of an Alpha who had killed his entire pack for power.

“You’re his pack. He needs you. He wouldn’t hurt you guys.” Liam protested, not at all understanding why Theo would do such a thing.

“He already killed Josh, right in front of us.” Corey revealed. Liam turned to face him, completely horrified.

“What?” The word slipped out of Liam’s mouth.

“Mason said you could help us.” Corey added. Mason looked a little nervous, like he wasn’t sure if he overstepped, that he shouldn’t have promised anything like that, but Scott nodded, letting him know that it was okay. He then turned to the chimeras.

“All I can do is try, but I promise, I will do everything in my power to keep you all safe. But first, I need to know everything.”


	16. New Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING – This chapter does have some depressing thoughts as well as some talk of suicide. It is pretty light, at least, I think it is, but if anything like that is going to trigger you, or you just don’t want to read it, please skip this chapter. You won’t be missing much. Next chapter will have a little rundown of the important parts that happened in this chapter for those who decide to skip it. You have been warned.

Less than five minutes later, everyone had gather into the living room with Liam and Hayden sitting on the love seat, Scott, Stiles, and Kira sitting on the sofa across from them. Mason sat on a chair that had been dragged from the kitchen beside Corey, who also was sitting on a kitchen chair, while Tracy sat in the large armchair with Lydia standing beside her. The rest of the group stood around the couch where Scott, Stiles, and Kira were sitting. Once they were all settled, Hayden started telling them everything that had happened with them and Theo.

“For the first bit, it was all about finding any chimeras that were still out there.” Hayden started to explain, greatly appreciating Liam’s arm around her shoulders, keeping her grounded, keeping her safe.

“Are there?” Stiles asked, listening closely, as was everyone else.

“No. There was one, Noah, but the Doctors killed him before we got to him.” Hayden answered.

“Yeah, we know about that.” Scott told her, remembering how just after he had died, he, Lydia, Malia, Stiles, and Argent went looking for him, only to find that the Doctors got there first.

“After that, Theo started making us search the woods and abandoned buildings for the Dread Doctors.” Hayden then continued telling them what had been happening with Theo over the last week or so.

“I thought they were hiding in the sewers.” Malia broke in.

“Not anymore. They left, and they completely deserted Theo when he got mad at them for not giving him the DNA he needed in order to become the Beast. He did find one of their creepy masks though. Apparently, people can see stuff in the mask, see whatever they’re looking for or something weird like that. Theo then asked Josh to put it on to find where the Dread Doctors are.” Hayden revealed.

“Why couldn’t he wear it himself?” Scott questioned, not sure why a chimera with the ability to heal and who only cared about himself would have someone find out the answers he wanted for him.

“Because it uses some sort of electric current, which could kill us. But since Josh has, had, electricity powers, he would be able to handle it.” Corey chimed in, pausing a little when he realized he had to use the word ‘had’ instead of ‘has’. Seeing the haunted look in his eyes, Mason leaned forward and took the chimera’s hand. Corey then looked up at him and gave him a small, grateful smile.

“And Josh didn’t want to wear it.” Stiles summed up, trying to get back to the conversation they were having. He needed to know what Theo was doing so they could stop him, so they could find a way to make him pay for everything he had done.

“It’s possible it could’ve killed him too.” Tracy told him.

“So Theo just killed him?” Liam couldn’t wrap his head around it. He just didn’t understand how someone could go through the trouble of bringing someone back from the dead, wanting to use them, only to kill them when they say no. Liam had said no to Scott once, and his Alpha completely understood. Guess that was another difference between Scott and Theo.

“Yeah, basically.” Hayden replied, leaning into Liam a little as he tightened his grip on her shoulder before she continued, “And when he did that, he absorbed Josh’s powers and put the mask on himself. It was then we just ran.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, as they all processed what they heard. It was no surprise to Scott about what Theo did. He knew first hand just how power hungry, selfish, and manipulative he really was. He also knew from fighting with Deucalion and his Alpha pack the lengths some people will go for power, as did several of his friends from being by his side when it happened, but these chimeras, as well as Liam and Mason were too young to see how terrible and selfish those people could be. Seeing the looks in Hayden’s, Tracy’s, and Corey’s eyes, all he could see was shock and horror.

“So, you want us to do what? Go with you guys everywhere like bodyguards because you think that Theo’s going to kill you all for abandoning him? No offense, but we can’t just follow you all around.” Stiles finally spoke up, breaking the silence, though his words and tone did have Scott turn to look at him.

“Stiles.” Scott slightly admonished his friend for being a little cold and rude to the young teenagers who were clearly terrified as well as horrified by everything that they had seen and learned over the last few hours.

“He does have a point though. What do you guys want us to do?” Isaac broke in. While he usually did fight with Stiles a bit, not real fighting, more like arguing, he couldn’t deny the human was fair with his question.

“Stop Theo. Keep him from hurting us and everyone else. That’s what you guys do, right? Try and protect the town and the people in it from supernatural threats?” Hayden responded, looking directly at Scott with hopeful eyes. She knew that Scott had tried to keep her safe from the Dread Doctors, and Liam was constantly telling her how the high school senior did his best to help everyone. Now though, was the time for him to prove it to her.

“We do.” Scott was quick to reply, meeting Hayden’s stare with sincere eyes.

“Are you all willing to help though? Cause, we could use some of it.” Malia joined the conversation. She remembered how weak and helpless she felt when she went up against the Dread Doctors and knew that even though their pack was now bigger with the added help, she doubted that they would succeed. They would need more help. The chimeras though stared at her, as though the thought of fighting had never occurred to them.

“We have no idea how to fight. And the Dread Doctors are,” Hayden revealed that they had never been taught to fight or use or even control their abilities.

“I know. We know.” Scott cut her off, a little upset by how Malia went about asking them to help, as though they had too if they wanted their protection. Seeing the fearful look in their eyes, he said, “We’ll help you guys learn how to fight. But, I’m not going to make you help us if you all don’t want to. It’s your choice.

The three remaining chimeras looked at each other, clearly not at all sure how to respond. Scott wouldn’t blame them at all if they didn’t want to fight, nor was he actually going to make them if they didn’t want too. That truly was their choice. But it was also clear to the Alpha that they were in no shape to even think about such a question thoroughly and answer it in the state they were in right now.

“First off though, we need to find you all a safe place to stay.” Scott told them, the looked over at Derek and asked, “Derek, do you happen to know anyplace that no one knows about and is hidden?”

“Yeah, I do.” Derek answered, then turned to look at his sister and said, “Cora, take these guys to the subway station. No one will look for them there.”

Cora nodded as everyone who was sitting down in the room stood up, and the chimeras made their way over to Derek’s sister. Though Cora was not in Beacon Hills when Derek had lived there, she had been there several times as a child and knew exactly where it was.

“Though you should all probably call your families, make an excuse for not being home tonight.” Scott said before they left the house, suddenly realizing that their families probably had no idea what was going on and would be worried if the teenagers didn’t come home. As they walked out the door though, Hayden stopped in front of Scott and handed him something.

“As we were leaving, I found this on the table at the place where Theo had been staying. Thought they might be useful.” Hayden told him. Scott looked down at the objected and saw it was a round, glass container that carried five talons. Talons that Scott immediately recognized.

“Thanks.” Scott replied, putting the container in the pocket of his sweater. Hayden nodded, then followed the other chimeras and Cora out the door. Once they were gone though, everyone still remaining looked over at the alpha.

“Is this a good idea? It could all be another elaborate trick courtesy of Theo.” Stiles wondered, not trusting anything or anyone that had any connection to the person who had tried to rip their pack apart.

“It’s not. Hayden wouldn’t do something like that.” Liam immediately came to his girlfriend’s defense.

“It could be, but I don’t think he’d go this far. Still, I want one of you guys to keep an eye on them, just in case.” Scott responded. Seeing that Liam looked a little like he wanted to argue Scott quickly added, “Better safe than sorry.”

“You know, if they are sincere, that takes away one of our problems. Now, it’s just the Dread Doctors and Theo we have to deal with.” Kira tried to look at the bright side, hoping to ease the slight tension that was in the room. Her boyfriend gave her a grateful grin and nodded. She smiled back at him and walked over to his side. The second she reached him, Scott put his arm around her shoulders. He had missed her so much while she was gone and was beyond happy and grateful that she was back.

“Something tells me it still isn’t going to be that easy.” Ethan brought Scott and Kira’s attention back to what was going on.

“Oh I know it’s not.” Scott replied, “Either way, we need to find them. But let’s wait until morning. It’s late, and we’re all exhausted.”

No one protested to that. Kira, Scott, and Stiles still hadn’t fully caught up from the sleep they lost in Mexico and the others were taking turns keeping watch over the city in case of attacks from either Theo or the Dread Doctors. Parrish was keeping them updated, as he was the only deputy that knew the truth of what was going on and the Sheriff had just been released from the hospital and wasn’t back on duty yet.

Scott closed the door after everyone left and locked it, knowing that no one should be coming into the house until morning when he would either leave for school, or to go on the hunt for Theo or the Doctors, unless his Mom got home before he left. As the teenager turned around, about to go upstairs to bed, he almost had a heart attack when he saw that Derek was still in the house.

“I wanna talk to you,” was the only explanation Derek gave for still being in the house when everyone else had left.

“Okay. What is it?” Scott asked, not at all worried about anyone listening in on their conversation as no one was around this time.

“I need you to tell me why you don’t want the others to know what Theo did to you.” Derek told him, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Does it matter?” Scott wondered as he began to wish he told Derek that they would talk later as he did not want to have this conversation now, if ever.

“Yeah, it does because you’re closing yourself off from them, from your pack Scott. And that worries me.” Derek immediately answered, his tone beginning to sound angry as his frustration with how the young Alpha was acting.

“And you’re bringing this up now because?” Scott then asked, not sure why Derek was suddenly wanting to talk about this again.

“Because everyone wants to go after Theo, and they still don’t what Theo is fully capable of and that you’re not at your best yet. You’re still healing.” Derek replied.

“The only reason Theo beat me was because he poisoned me with wolfsbane through my inhaler, surrounded me with mountain ash, and had Liam attack me first. If he didn’t do any of that, he’d be the one still injured.” Scott said, voice full of confidence with the hope that Derek would drop the topic. However, his friend and mentor had no intention of doing so.

“I have no doubt about it Scott, but they need to know just how a dirty player Theo is, and how you’re not going to be able to fight at full strength because of your injury. And that means, you need to tell them.” Derek told him.

“You’re not going to drop this, are you?” Scott realized when he saw the determined look on Derek’s face. The older werewolf simply shook his head. Letting out a small sigh, Scott walked across the room and sat down on the couch he had vacated only minutes ago. A few seconds later, Derek sat down beside him.

“Come on Scott, you can tell me.” Derek encouraged the teenage Alpha to talk to him when Scott still stayed quiet. Knowing that there really was no way to get out of this now and finding that he really wanted to get some of what he was feeling off his chest, Scott relented.

“This is probably going to sound a bit crazy but, the reason I don’t want them to know the truth about what happened that night is because I don’t want them to find out that, that there was a part of me that didn’t want to come back.” Scott admitted, ducking his head so he couldn’t see Derek’s face. The older werewolf didn’t say anything, instead, he waited for Scott to continue, which he eventually did.

“When I, died, I saw Allison.” If Scott had looked up at Derek, he would’ve seen him nod as a sudden look of understanding came upon his face, but he didn’t, he just kept talking, “She told me that I had to come back, that I couldn’t leave our friends the way they were. And I know she was right. I got them into this mess in the first place. I had to get them out, I had to fight for them. That’s my job not only as their Alpha, but as their friend.”

Scott paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing again, “But, it was so peaceful there. A kind of peaceful that I had never felt before. I felt safe, there was no pain at all. For the first time in so long, I actually felt like I had nothing to worry about, until Allison brought up our friends though. Then I knew I had to come back, but deep down, I wanted to stay there.”

“I never wanted to be a werewolf, let alone an Alpha. But I’ve been doing my best, to make sure my family, friends, this town stays safe from danger, and over half the time I have no idea what I’m doing. I practically destroyed my pack, endangered my friends because I made the wrong decision about trusting Theo. And here I am, about to lead all of you guys into another fight with him and three, dangerous, nearly invincible doctors, and possibly a monstrous, evil werewolf. I could get you all killed. Part of me thinks that maybe, maybe it would’ve been better if I had just stayed dead, so you all wouldn’t have to fight.”

Derek was not usually the type of person who liked physical contact, unless it was when he was fighting someone of course. And he was not the type to comfort people either, but seeing and hearing how bad Scott truly was feeling, he placed his hand on the Alpha’s shoulder, trying and wanting to give him some sort of comfort. He didn’t say anything for a long moment though, trying to think of what he should say. But, what do you say when a 17, 18-year-old who has his whole life ahead of him, tells you that he thinks it would be better for everyone if he was dead?

“Scott, I honestly have no idea what to tell you, except that I understand the desire to stop fighting, to be free of it all, believe me, I do. But, I know you. You aren’t the kind of person who is just going to back down, you’re not the kind of person who is going to just give up when things get hard. You’re a fighter, Scott.” Derek told him, hoping that would help encourage him, but when the teenager didn’t respond, he knew it was going to take more than that.

“You wanna know why you’re the True Alpha? Why your friends follow you?” That got Scott to turn his head towards him a little, though he still didn’t look up at him. So, Derek continued.

“It’s because despite not knowing the answers, despite making a few mistakes, you keep going, you keep fighting for what you know is right, even if that means standing alone and risking your life. You do everything in your power to protect and save not only your friends, but the people of this town. You find a way to win, you keep fighting, you stand up even when you’re knocked down. Sure, you’re going to make a few mistakes along the way. We all will. No one is perfect, not even a True Alpha. Being a True Alpha doesn’t make you perfect. It just makes you someone who wants to do the right thing and will not stop until you succeed. So don’t stop fighting now, not when they still need you, not when this town still needs you.”

Finally, Scott raised his head and looked straight at Derek, letting him see the two, silent tears slipping from his eyes. Without even thinking, the older Alpha pulled him close and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. It took Scott a minute for the shock from the fact that Derek was actually hugging him to subside, but then he quickly returned it, burrowing his head into the former Alpha’s broad shoulder while he tried to keep the tears at bay.

Derek held him tightly, wishing there was some way he could take this burden that Scott was feeling, and probably had been feeling for a while now, away from him. In all honesty, it was part of the reason why he killed Peter to become the Alpha instead of letting Scott kill him in an attempt to cure himself from being a werewolf. While he wanted his family’s power, the power that was rightfully his, there was another part of him that knew if Scott killed Peter, and he ended up becoming an Alpha, he might not be able to handle it. He was too young, and too inexperienced. Yet, only about a year later, he became an Alpha all on his own.

He had always known there was something special about Scott, especially when he started to really embrace his werewolf side and become a champion for the weak, but it wasn’t until he saw Scott’s eyes turn red that he found out why he was so special. He truly was a good-hearted kid who wanted the best for everyone, and would fight to make sure they got it. But Derek, and apparently everyone else forgot to see who was going to make sure that Scott also got that, that Scott was also safe and happy. Right now, he was fighting for everyone, but for some reason, his friends didn’t see that he was no longer fighting for himself, that he no longer wanted to fight for himself. And unless he did, he truly was going to end up dead, a lot sooner than later, unless they fought for him.

_You and me Scott, we’re brothers now._

Derek instinctively tightened his hold on the teenager that he had called his brother on pretty much their first meeting all those nights ago. Scott rebelled against that statement, and against him from the beginning, but as the tension between them died down, as they found a mutual ground and finally respected each other, they finally built a friendship that was becoming close to brotherhood. Derek felt a protectiveness over the young Alpha that was nearly identical to the one he felt over Cora. Scott had somehow become like a brother to him, and Derek wasn’t going to let him get himself killed. Not when he could stop it. He had already lost enough family. He wasn’t losing his brother too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried my best to keep in with Derek’s character, but if it’s way off, I’m really sorry. I love the Scott and Derek bromance especially in season 3 and 4, and I really do think that Derek does consider Scott his little brother. It has been shown, at least to me, all the way back in season 1 that he had. Sure, he threatened to kill Scott a few hundred times, but he always ended up protecting him. And he also still protected him in season 2 and worked with him even though Scott wasn’t technically in his pack until later in the season before quitting at the very end. So to me, I think that if this actually happened, if Scott really was thinking these things and told Derek about it, this is how Derek would respond. Again, if you guys think I’m wrong, I’m sorry. I do hope you all liked this chapter though.


	17. The Beast and The Dread Doctors

Though Scott was positive that everyone wanted to go out and find Theo and the Dread Doctors, to end the threat they posed to their town and friends, Scott insisted that they waited until school was over. He understood their desire of course, but he was quick to remind them that they had been missing enough school lately, and that they needed their education. He especially reminded Malia, Stiles, and Kira that they were graduating this year which meant they couldn’t just skip school whenever they wanted.

By the time Scott, Stiles, Liam, and Mason joined Derek and Isaac who was waiting for them at the edge of the woods were the road ended, it was almost four in the afternoon.

“Where are the girls?” Derek questioned when he didn’t see Lydia, Malia, Kira, or Cora with them.

“Lydia’s talking with Parrish again. They’re trying to figure out what exactly he can do as a hellhound. Since the mural is of him fighting the Beast, they figured that him learning to use and control his abilities is kinda important.” Stiles explained.

“Makes sense.” Derek replied as he started walking beside Scott while Stiles was on his other side. Isaac also followed near Derek while Liam and Mason walked behind the group.

“And Malia, Kira, and Cora are with Braeden. She found a new lead on where the Desert Wolf is. Since she and Theo had made a deal before, they think that she might know where he is.” Scott finished telling Derek what the other three girls were doing. Derek nodded as he started walking with the group, as did Isaac, all of them now keeping their eyes peeled for any sign that the Dread Doctors had been there or were there.

Right before the last period of the school day started, Malia got the text from Braeden that might have found where the Desert Wolf could be hiding out and though the werecoyote wanted to go, especially because the last class was math, the others managed to convince her to stay for the class and to head out afterwards.

Math was one the classes she had to retake during summer school just to get into her senior year of school and skipping the class wouldn’t help her actually graduate. It was clear Malia wasn’t happy about it, but she stayed. The minute the bell rang though, Malia was running out of the classroom, Kira barely catching up to her while Cora, who had gotten a text from Scott about what was going on, was waiting for her.

“Do we have an idea where exactly to look?” Stiles asked after about half an hour of searching, just now realizing that they had no idea what they were even looking for or what direction they were going in.

“Not exactly.” Scott admitted, feeling a little embarrassed that all he knew was that the Dread Doctors were hiding somewhere in the woods due to the clues that Argent and Gerard had found in the tunnels. That didn’t really narrow it down though.

“Great. This is worse than when we were looking for the Nemeton.” Stiles complained under his breath. Though he said it quietly, Derek, Isaac, Scott, Liam and Mason all heard him clearly with four of them having super-hearing while the other human in the group was walking right behind him.

“Maybe that’s it.” Mason mumbled to himself, stopping in his tracks. Just like everyone heard Stiles though, they also heard him and stopped walking as well, turning to face him.

“What?” Scott questioned, wondering what Mason was thinking. The younger teenager looked a little nervous when he saw that Stiles and all of the werewolves were looking at him, but didn’t let that stop him from wanting to see if the theory that was forming in his head was correct.

“The Nemeton is on the telluric currents, right?” Mason checked, needing to know more in order to see if the theory that was coming together in his head actually could be right.

“Yeah.” Scott answered, not sure why Mason was asking about that, or how he even knew about it.

“A lot of supernatural stuff happens either on or around them, right?” Mason then asked.

“Well, yeah.” Scott replied, slowly realizing what the human sophomore was getting at. Apparently, Stiles had already figured it out because he was pulling his phone out of his pocket and rapidly typing something.

“So maybe the Dread Doctors’ new lair is on or near one of them.” Mason finally suggested, hoping that his idea was actually logical and possible, that he was actually helping instead of just listing stupid theories and ideas.

“That’s a good idea.” Scott though agreed with him, actually complimenting him, which caused Mason to grin. The Alpha then turned to look at Stiles, and saw that he was already on his phone.

“What are you doing?” Scott asked his friend, causing everyone else to look over at the other high school senior.

“Looking up telluric currents in Beacon Hills.” Stiles answered, keeping his eyes on his phone.

“Anything?” Isaac wondered after giving the Sheriff’s son a minute to get the results from his search.

“Wait, yeah. Right there.” Stiles responded, pointing at a spot on his phone. Scott and Derek both came over to look at the map to see what Stiles had found, and saw he was pointing at spot not too far away from where they were and had two of the currents overlapping each other.

“Worth a shot.” Derek said as he knew that none of them had a real idea about where the Dread Doctors could be, so it any idea or lead, no matter how remote would be worth checking out.

“Let’s go.”

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

For the next few hours, the group of three werewolves and two humans walked throughout the woods, looking for the Dread Doctors new hideout. Though the first place Stiles found on the map on his phone didn’t lead to anything, they all agreed Mason was probably on to something, especially when they saw that the sewers where they had been hiding out previously was on a telluric current. So, with the map, they continued looking for the currents around them for any sign of where the Doctors were now hiding. They were on their twelfth current they were checking when they found an old building that appeared abandoned and looked to be on the verge of completely collapsing. 

“Creepy, old, rundown building in the middle of the woods? Sounds about right.” Liam stated as the group walked closer to the abandoned, falling down, building that was apparently right on two telluric currents.

“Dibs out on going first.” Stiles called, putting up his right hand. Derek rolled his eyes in annoyance but kept his mouth shut as Scott quickened his pace and walked right up to the building, silently volunteering that he would go first.

At first, the young Alpha listened closely for any sound that would tell him if there was anyone inside, whether that was heartbeats, breathing, footsteps, stuff being moved around, but he heard nothing. While that usually was enough to know the place was deserted, Scott focused on his smell, just in case. Not catching anyone’s scent at all, the teenager was positive that there was no one around besides them.

“Don’t worry, it’s empty.” Scott informed the group.

“Good.” Mason was grateful to hear. The rest were too, all giving a small sigh of relief.

They were already a little nervous about the possibility of going up against the Dread Doctors, though they knew they would have to soon, but with their surroundings looking like a set in a horror movie, they were even more on edge, especially when Scott pushed the door open and it made a large creaking noise due to the rusty hinges. But, with their Alpha leading the way, they entered the building.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Stiles inquired, turning on the flashlight on his phone to help lighten up the room when he couldn’t find the light switch.

“Well, they’re somehow changing people’s DNA, right? To give them the abilities of supernatural creatures without actually turning them?” Scott replied, letting his eyes glow red in order to see better. It wasn’t completely dark, but there wasn’t much light either.

“Yeah.” Stiles agreed with what Scott was saying.

“Well, if we can destroy whatever it is they inject them with, specifically the one they would have to create the Beast, then we won’t have to worry about him, or her.” Scott told him, and everyone else. They all nodded, but they all knew, as did Scott that no plan any of them ever made, not matter how easy and straight forward it seemed, ever went as it was supposed to, and Stiles was about to remind him of that but before he could, Liam drew their attention to something else.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Scott and Stiles turned to see Liam and Mason standing in front of a large, tube-like structure that was clear, like glass. The two walked over to the younger teenagers to get a better view as to what exactly they were looking at. They couldn’t see exactly what was in the tube, as it was filled with foggy water that appeared green with the light that was in the room, but they could tell there was something in it.

“No idea, but that’s creepy.” Stiles stated, looking somewhat intrigued yet grossed out at the same time.

“Is there a person in there?” Isaac wondered, coming to stand by Scott, Derek right behind him. Everyone looked closer at the glass, trying to see what was inside the tube-like container when they realized that there was indeed a person inside.

“Maybe we should leave.” Scott suggested, beginning to feel like it was a bad idea to stay in the building. The tube holding a person inside, and all the equipment that littered the entire room was creepy enough, but in the last few minutes, Scott felt that something was wrong, something was coming, something bad and they needed to leave.

“Yeah, maybe.” Mason agreed, also feeling creeped out in the abandoned building. If the others wanted to stay, they didn’t say anything. They all turned around to head for the door, but before they could so much as take a step forward, the three Dread Doctors strode into to the building and spread out in front of the door, completely blocking it.

“Okay yeah, we really should leave.” Stiles repeated Scott’s suggestion as he instinctively backed up while Scott, Derek, and Liam moved to stand in front of Mason and Stiles protectively.

“You are here to destroy our creation of La Bete?” The Doctor in the middle spoke, his voice deep and mechanical.

“Maybe.” Liam answered, his voice full of barely controlled fury. It was because of the Doctors they were in this situation in the first place. They were the ones who created the chimeras, created Theo. They kidnapped him and Hayden and experimented on her, which killed her. He wanted to rip them apart.

“You are too late. Theo has stolen it, in hopes of becoming La Bete himself.” The Doctor on the left informed them. Scott briefly felt a twinge of guilt in his gut as he wondered if he and the others started searching for the Dread Doctors’ new lair earlier, they would’ve gotten there before Theo, but the werewolf quickly pushed the thought away. He had something far more important to focus on right now.

“Stay away, and we will deal with Theo.” The middle Doctor spoke again.

“And then create your own Beast?” Stiles questioned, feeling the same anger that Liam was. The Doctors turned their heads to stare straight at the human, or at least, it looked like they were staring at him. It was kind of hard to tell with their masks on.

“Stay away, and we will let you live.” The Doctor on the right told the group, but didn’t deny Stiles’ accusation at all. Without another word, the Doctors turned and left the building the same way they came.

“Okay, we need to get out of here.” Scott told the group once the Doctors were gone. No one had any protests to that at all.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

The sun was already starting to set once the group made their way back to the edge of the woods where they parked their vehicles. There was barely a word spoken between them as they processed everything they found out and tried to get out of the forest away safely, still unsure if the Dread Doctors were going to come after them. Though they had let them leave their new hideout unharmed, they were still a little nervous that they would let them be.

“So Theo now has the power of this mystic, beast, werewolf creature.” Isaac surmised the information they had learned once they were almost to their vehicles.

“At least we don’t have to deal with another threat in this town.” Scott tried to look on the bright side.

“Yeah, but the one we already have is now going to be a lot stronger.” Stiles reminded him, his voice mixed with annoyance, frustration, and anger.

Scott was struggling to think of something to say that would encourage his best friend, though he wasn’t sure how effective it would be since lately Stiles seemed dead set on being a pessimist, but before he could, two figures appeared out of the shadows cast by the trees. All the werewolves immediately let their eyes glow as they tensed up, preparing for a fight, but relaxed slightly when they saw that it was Chris Argent and Gerard.

“Who’s that?” Mason asked Liam with a very quiet tone, sensing the uneasiness in the air.

“I’ll tell you later.” Liam whispered back, though he wondered what all he could tell him. He still hadn’t couldn’t the story of what happened with the old guy, but given how Scott had acted the last time they ran across him when they were in the tunnels, and how everyone else was reacting right now, it wasn’t good.

“Derek, Isaac. Good to see you.” Argent greeted the two werewolves who had been absent from Beacon Hills for a while, with a small smile. Isaac didn’t reply, but gave him a nod and a small grin in return, letting him know that he was glad to see him too.

“You too.” Derek replied before turning his head to glare at Gerard as he said, “Not so much you.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” Gerard responded, giving the werewolf a glare of his on.

“Why are you guys here?” Scott directed the question at Argent, determined to avoid contact with the man who threatened him, his friends, his Mom, and his girlfriend.

“Looking for the Dread Doctors, obviously.” Gerard answered even though he knew full well that Scott was trying to shut him out of what was going on.

“Why do you care about helping us stop monsters?” Derek wondered, knowing that the Argent patriarch had to be up to something. He was always up to something.

“We’re hunters. It’s our job.” Gerard told him with a simple tone, like the answer should have been obvious.

“Like there isn’t something in it for you?” Derek pushed. He knew what kind of man Gerard was, and it was not the type of person who helped people out of the goodness in his heart. He doubted Gerard even had any goodness in his heart, if he even had a heart that is.

“Oh it’s more than that. It’s our family history after all.” Gerard replied.

“What are you talking about.” Isaac chimed into the conversation.

“The Beast existed over a hundred years ago. Who do you think killed it then?” Gerard questioned. Though no one actually knew the answer, the prideful grin on the older man’s face gave them all a fairly good idea.


	18. The Argent's History

The Argents didn’t want to remain in the woods as it was a bit of dangerous place for them to tell a story, even though the werewolves and the hunters could probably take care of any threat that came their way. So, Chris told them to meet him and his father at the old building where he had been staying that last time in was in Beacon Hills, where the fight with those hunting the people on the Deadpool and taken place.

Once they were there, Argent told them to take a seat on the few chairs that were in the area as apparently, it was going to be a bit of a long story. Everyone did, except for Derek and Gerard. The werewolf remained standing with his back against the wall, staring straight at the older hunter, wanting to see if he was going to try anything, while Gerard moved to stand in front of the group so he could see them all as he told the story that he had heard his entire life growing up.

“It was during the Seven Years War, in the mid 1700s in the small town of Gevaudan. Though many were fighting in the war, the greatest hunter remained in town. Her name was Marie-Jeanne Valet.” Gerard started to narrate the story once they were all settled in at the warehouse Argent had been staying at.

“During this time, a monster was creating havoc in all surrounding towns and villages. Reports large creature with glowing eyes came flooding in. Some said it looked like a bear, others said it looked like a wolf, but no one knew for sure because anyone who did come face to face with it was slaughtered into pieces. The monster left no survivors. They called it, the Beast of Gevaudan.”

“It was a werewolf?” Mason broke in, clearly becoming intrigued by the tale that the older hunter was spinning. The rest of the group were too, but they refused to let Gerard see that. Only Liam looked about as entertained as Mason was.

“That it was. Marie-Jeanne payed no attention to the rumors about the Beast, for she believed there was no such things as monsters. All of her thoughts were on the hope that her brother, Sebastien would be coming home from the war. He was the only family she had left, their parents having died years earlier. Finally, one day he did.”

“Their happy reunion was broken up though when a villager came in, carrying the body of his young son, who had gone out after dark and was killed by the Beast. Marie-Jeanne may not have believed it was some kind of supernatural creature, but she agreed that it was a monster that had to be destroyed. So the next day, at dusk, she led several villagers out into the woods to hunt down and kill La Bete.”

“Something tells me it didn’t go well.” Stiles interrupted, getting a little impatient at how long Gerard was taking in telling this story, that he wasn’t exactly sure was true. After all, Gerard was no way near an honest person at all. Gerard either didn’t pick up the annoyance from the teenager or didn’t care, but he did glance over at Stiles and shook his head.

“As soon as the moon rose in the sky, the monster came at them until only Marie-Jeanne was left. La Bete almost killed her as well, but then Henri, another villager who was bit of a hermit arrived, and threw a circle of ash around the two of them. La Bete was unable to get through, and fled.”

“Mountain Ash.” Scott chimed in with a knowing tone.

“That’s right. He knew all about the supernatural and knew that La Bete was not a killer bear. It was a werewolf.” Gerard confirmed, looking over at the Alpha with a small grin that made Scott feel as though he was a bug that the hunter was going to enjoy squishing beneath his boot. The werewolf didn’t let the older man know that though, forcing his body to relax and his heart to beat steadily. If Gerard saw through it, he didn’t say anything about it, he just continued his story.

“Once La Bete was gone, Henri brought Marie-Jeanne to his house to clean up the injury she had gotten. It was there Marie-Jeanne started to realize the werewolves were real and she demanded that Henri teach her how to kill them. He then gave her some wolfsbane, telling her how it’s their poison.” All the werewolves instinctively stiffened up at that, but Gerard kept going.

“She then headed back to the village and had all the villagers come to the tavern to drink in memory of those who had died the previous night. Unbeknownst to them, she had spiked the alcohol with the wolfsbane in hopes of drawing out the killer.”

“Did it work?” Mason asked in complete fascination. Since he was still new to the supernatural world, he didn’t know much about how anything worked and which legends were true and which were simply myths, so he was soaking up as much information as he could.

“All too well. Someone did end up coughing, much more than he should’ve, and stared at his cup in complete shock before his face harden up and he looked over at Marie-Jeanne, who was already staring at him, but in horror.”

“Who was it?” Stiles then question, already having a good idea how this story was about to play out.

“It was Marie-Jeanne’s own brother, Sebastien.” Gerard answered, glancing at the teenager before turning back to the rest of the group.

“She wanted to confront him, but knew he could kill everyone in the room before she could kill him, and the shock that her own brother was not only a werewolf, but a murderer was too much for her. He then walked over to her, and threatened her. He explained that he had turned into a demon wolf by drinking the water from a puddle in the paw print in the mud while he was fighting in the war. He said he will kill whatever is in his path, that it’s who he is now.”

“So what did she do?” Liam wondered.

“She went back to Henri, and together, they planned a way to kill Sebastian.” Gerard replied.

“And did they?” Mason prompted the older man to continue, enjoying the story more and more with each passing minute.

“It took them three years before they finally cornered him in 1767. She was running from him and slipped in the snow. Before Sebastien could get to her though, Marie-Jeanne pulled out a spear that she had hidden there. A single, long piece of wood with a specially made metal pike on the top. Using the Beast’s strength against him, she stabbed him through his heart.”

“At first, it appeared he was starting to heal, but then, black blood started running out of his injury and his mouth. Marie-Jeanne told him out the spike was made with steel, wolfsbane, and mountain ash, forged with her blood, their blood, under the light of the full moon. He said that even though he may die, the world will always remember him. She told him no one will remember that Sebastien Valet existed, that his name will be erased from history, that they might remember him, but only as a Beast.”

Scott turned his head to look down at the ground for a moment, finally realizing why there was so little information about the Beast. After he and Liam had left the tunnels a few days ago, Scott spent a good part of the night looking up anything and everything about the Beast, but there was barely any information whatsoever. If they had destroyed any and all records concerning him, especially in a time period where there wasn’t much records of anyone, it would be quite easy for that person to be completely erased. But then that put a question in Scott’s head. If there was no record of Sebastien, then how did Gerard know about any of this?

“Once Sebastien was dead, the villagers got together and burned all of Sebastien’s possessions and anything bearing his name, doing everything they could to destroy his print on history.” Gerard finally finished the story.

“Great. We going to go up against Theo who’s already a psychopath, and who will now have the power of a demon wolf that was so bad he was literally erased from history.” Stiles remarked in complete frustration and annoyance. Scott ignored him though, turning his attention back to the older Argent.

“If they got rid of any evidence that Sebastien existed, how do you guys know about it?” The Alpha questioned. Everyone immediately turned their attention back to Gerard. The pack that was present had either been so entranced by the story, or so focused on making sure the older hunter didn’t do or try anything malicious to question at all how the Argents knew about the Beast.

“After the death of her brother, Marie-Jeanne went back to Henri, and married him, taking his name as her own.” Gerard responded, leaving the group of teenagers to come to the conclusion themselves.

“Argent.” Derek realized. He knew the family of hunters better than most in the pack and knew that the only way that they could know a story like that, and that Chris would get his father involved was if it had something to do with their family.

“Marie-Jeanne Argent, was our ancestor, the very first Argent hunter.” Gerard confirmed, glancing back over at Derek.

“Allison said once, that you told her that the way the hunters work, is that the men are soldiers, but the women are leaders.” Scott recalled, looking up at Chris. The hunter’s face fell a little at the mention of his daughter, but he nodded. Unbeknownst to the two of them, everything’s faces fell when Scott said Allison’s name. All except for Gerard, Liam, and Mason, that is.

Gerard didn’t show any emotion, because he refused to let the mention of his granddaughter get to him, if it did at all. And Liam and Mason because they had never heard of this Allison person, but from the way their friends and pack members were looking, they knew that there was something important about her, something they didn’t know yet.

“All because of Marie-Jeanne.” Gerard brought the attention back onto his ancestor.

“So, if Theo does use the DNA or whatever it was that he took from the Dread Doctors in order to make himself the Beast, we need the pike that Marie-Jeanne used to kill her brother.” Scott concluded.

“It might not kill Theo, but it will, or should, destroy the Beast part of him.” Chris told him, agreeing with Scott’s logic.

“‘Should?’ That’s not very encouraging.” Stiles commented quietly to himself.

“What happened to the pike?” Isaac asked, ignoring Stiles just like everyone else was doing at the moment.

“That, we don’t really know.” Gerard replied, the expression on his face hinting that he was actually upset that he didn’t know something about his family’s history and had to admit it, “All we do know is that it was melted down into something else, and was passed down through the women in our family. It was their own secret they kept from the men.”

Scott looked over at Chris, about to ask him if he knew anything or had anything theories, thinking the answer would probably be know. After all, usually the father in a family knows more about their family history than the son would, but when he saw the other Argent’s face, he paused. There was a strange expression on the older man’s face, a knowing one yet that also seemed to suggest that Scott also knew. Then, Argent shook his head, like he was telling Scott not to say anything.

“We might not need it though.” Liam spoke up, unknowing stopping the silent communication between Scott and Argent, “The mural shows the Beast fighting the Hellhound. Parrish. He’s the Hellhound. He can defeat the Beast.”

“Lydia’s still with him, trying to learn more.” Scott added, looking over his shoulder at his youngest beta.

“Where?” Gerard wondered, again getting everyone to look at him, but this time, with questioning and suspicious expressions.

“Why do you want to know?” Derek inquired, staring at Gerard with distrustful eyes.

“We might be able to help.” Chris spoke for the two of them.

“You want to help?” Scott directed the comment to Gerard. He had no doubt that Chris would want to help, but his father was a whole different story. The man was a psychotic, power-mad murderer who only cared about himself. There had to be another reason why he was willing to work with them.

“I’m an Argent Scott. Hunting werewolves is in my blood. And you’re going to need more than one Argent if you’re going to tackle a monster like the Beast of Gevaudan.” Gerard told him confidently.

“What if Parrish can’t do it? He still barely remembers what happens when he blacks out, or how to control his powers.” Stiles then questioned. He knew from talking with Lydia that Parrish was slowly making progress in understanding what he was and was starting to remember what happened when he would black out and become the hellhound, but he still had no control over it, and it was dangerous putting all the success of their plan on someone who couldn’t guarantee that he could pull it off.

“We’ll be with him. We’ll help. Marie-Jeanne may have needed a specially made pike in order to defeat the Beast, but she didn’t have a pack of werewolves helping her out either.” Scott answered, glancing around at his pack.

“We’ll go find Lydia and Parrish, and see what’s going on there. In the meantime, it’s late. If Theo is now the Beast, he won’t do anything in daylight. We’ll search again tomorrow night.” Argent told them.

Though the pack was a little disappointed they couldn’t do more, they were a bit tired and knew that there most likely wasn’t anything they could do. So, they all got up from their respective spots and started walking towards the exit.

“You okay?” Scott asked Stiles once he reached his best friend’s side. He had seen the frustrated and anxious look on his fellow classmate’s face long before he said anything while Gerard told them his family’s history. Had smelled it as well.

“I just want all of this over with. The longer we draw out this fight with Theo and the Doctors, the more I feel like something bad is going to happen. The sooner we kick their a**es, the better I’ll feel.” Stiles answered honestly, reaching into his pocket to grab the keys to his Jeep.

“We will, I promise.” Scott tried to assure his best friend, putting his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles however looked over at him with an annoyed expression.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Scott. It’s useless and kinda disappointing.” Stiles told him, then followed the others who were already out of the building. The only person who remained besides Scott was Derek, who was now walking up to him, concerned for his former beta and angry at his friend for his attitude.

“Don’t ask. I’m fine.” Scott told him, knowing exactly what Derek was going to say.

“If you say so.” Derek responded, his tone making it clear he didn’t believe the Alpha at all.

“Let’s just go.” Scott then said as he continued walking. Derek didn’t push the issue, which Scott was grateful for, but he knew that the older werewolf wasn’t happy about it. Despite that though, they continued out of the building after the pack in silence.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

The blue Jeep was silent even though there were four people inside. Stiles, who was behind the wheel was focusing on the road, Liam and Mason, who were in the back seat thinking about everything he had just heard, and Scott, who was in the passenger seat trying to keep from hissing as the wounds on his chest throbbed painfully.

Even though it had been almost two weeks since that night in the library, the injury Theo had inflicted on Scott had not healed, even though all the ones he had gotten from Liam had. It hadn’t been hurting as much as it used to, which Scott took as a sign that it was indeed healing, just a lot slower, but he was starting to get a little worried. He was wondering if maybe he should go talk to Deaton, he might know what was going on and how to fix his injury. The werewolf was shaken out of his thoughts when Liam poked his head between Scott’s and Stiles’ heads.

“Who’s Allison?” Liam asked, breaking the silence in the Jeep. The silence remained for a minute or so, turning into an awkward and tension filled one which really confused the younger teenager.

“Well, uh, she, um.” Scott stammered a bit, not really sure what to tell Liam, especially since he really didn’t want to talk about his first girlfriend and how she died. He knew that he probably should, especially now that she had been mentioned so of course his beta would be curious, but he still found it very difficult to talk about her.

“You know, why don’t we tell you about her when we don’t have psychotic, possibly demon, werewolf on the loose.” Stiles told Liam as he parked the Jeep in front of Scott’s house.

Though he was still a bit angry at Scott for everything that had happened, he could clearly tell how uncomfortable his friend had gotten when Liam brought up Allison and knew that she was probably the one thing Scott couldn’t talk about, not yet at least. Her death was a heavy blow to the Alpha, and that wound was still very fresh to him even though months had passed, and he was now dating Kira.

Scott shot him an appreciative look before climbing out of the Jeep. However, the minute his feet hit the ground, he stopped, not taking any steps towards the house. Stiles, who still had to drop off Liam and Mason at their respective houses, wondered if there was something up with his friend and if he should say something or if he should just reach over and shut the door himself. Before he could make up his mind though, Scott turned around, his expression one of sudden realization.

“What is it?” Stiles asked, subconsciously leaning forward.

“Allison.” Scott responded, though it in no way answered Stiles’ question. At least, not by much as he had no idea what was going through his friend’s mind. Scott then started running towards the door to his house while Stiles, Liam and Mason climbed out of the Jeep.

“Scott? What are you doing?” Stiles called out so the werewolf would hear him.

“I think I know what that pike was melted down into!” Scott yelled back, then rushed inside the house, leaving Liam, Mason, and Stiles standing by the vehicle. The three looked at each for a moment before they ran after the Alpha, wanting to know what their leader had figured out.

They didn’t catch up to Scott until they reached his room, where he was going through his closet, his back towards them. For a moment, Mason, Liam, and Stiles just watched the werewolf leader, wondering what he was doing, or more rather, what he was looking for. Soon, Scott pulled out a small box from the top shelf, walked over to his bed, and placed it on his bed before sitting down on the mattress himself. He then opened it up and started rummaging through it.

Stiles moved over to Scott’s side, looking down to see what was in the box and what his friend was looking for. He was slightly taken back when he saw what the carboard box held. There were pictures of Allison, as well as notes that were clearly written by both the werewolf and the hunter, as well as other objects that the human knew belonged to Scott’s first girlfriend before she died. A few weeks after her death, Stiles had come over to his friend’s house and was shocked to see that all of Allison’s stuff that Scott had was gone. When he asked about it, Scott just said that he just couldn’t stand to see it around anymore. Stiles didn’t ask about it again, though he did wonder what his friend had done with his late girlfriend’s pictures and belongings he had. Now he knew.

“This is Allison?” Liam asked, reaching forward and grabbing a small strip of photographs that had obviously been taken in a photobooth somewhere. The photos were a little blurry because of the light hitting Scott’s eyes, but Liam could clearly make out his Alpha and could somewhat see the girl with black hair and what appeared to be brown eyes who was right beside him. Mason moved closer to Liam and looked over his shoulder so he could see what it was that Liam had.

Scott glanced up to see what the younger teenager was looking at before going back to his task, muttering, “Yeah,” under his breath, just loud enough for Liam to hear him.

“You two were pretty close.” Liam commented, looking back down at the strip of photos. It was then he noticed the slight tear marks on the photo at the bottom, telling him that there had been another photo that had been torn off.

“Put that back please.” The beta werewolf lifted his head when he heard Scott’s request, a little surprised by his Alpha’s tone of voice. He sounded as though he was tightly wound, like he was trying to keep from losing control, but Liam had no idea why. The expression on Scott’s face also appeared as though he was in pain for some reason yet was trying to keep from showing it. While the sophomore had no idea why or what was wrong with his leader, he knew that this Allison person was at the center of it.

Quickly realizing that Scott was watching him, waiting for him to put the pictures back in the box, Liam reached over and dropped the photo strip into its place. Once he had down that, Scott continued running his hands through the box. Liam and Mason both looked over at Stiles, wondering if he could shed some light as to what was going on, but Stiles only silently shook his head, telling them to drop the ‘Allison’ topic. When the three of them looked back over at Scott, they saw him pulling something out of the box, holding it up for them to see.

“It’s this.” Scott told them, letting them see the necklace he was holding in his hand, “Passed down to the women of the Argent family.”

“Kate gave it to Allison.” Stiles recalled, easily recognizing the pendent that helped his Dad and everyone else learn that Kate Argent was the one behind the Hale fire years ago. Liam though look even more confused than before. If the necklace was passed down through the Argent family, and Kate, who he knew was an Argent, gave it to this Allison girl, then was she an Argent as well? And if she was, why did Scott have it?

Scott ignored Liam’s questioning gaze and finally revealed what he was thinking, “If I’m right, we can defeat the Beast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the pike being melted down into Allison’s necklace was a theory of mine when the season was airing. With the storyline of the Beast being the same monster that Allison was researching in season 1, and Allison coming to that story because of the necklace Kate gave her, it just seemed logical to me, especially when it was revealed that the Beast was killed by the first Argent hunter. I put it in the story because I wanted to tie the importance of the necklace back in a as a little bit of a throwback to season 1 and because it just made more sense to me than one of the Dread Doctors having it. Also, the storyline with the Dread Doctor being Sebastien’s friend, isn’t happening in this story, or at least, I’m not mentioning it. Sorry if that makes any reader upset, it’s just, it doesn’t really work or play any significance with where I’m taking this AU.


	19. Back to Life

“A necklace?” Liam questioned dubiously, staring at the pendant attached to the chain as it dangled from Scott’s enclosed fist. He could just barely make out a wolf, and something else on it.

“One that has been passed down to the women in the Argent family.” Scott told him and his pulled out his cell phone and texted Derek that he believed he knew what happened to the pike.

“Isn’t that kind of grasping at straws?” Stiles said, getting the two werewolves’ and the other human’s attention before continuing, “I mean, really? Melting a weapon down into a necklace? That kind of makes it useless.”

“And what theory do you have Stiles? They melted it into a different weapon that they hang on their wall for decoration?” His best friend looked a little taken back at Scott’s annoyed tone, but the werewolf honestly didn’t care much anymore. Though he understood his friend’s anger and believed he did have the right to be upset with him, it was starting to get on his nerves.

“I don’t know.” Stiles replied, starting to get a little defensive due to his friend’s sudden annoyance, “I just doubt they’d make it a necklace.”

“You know what Stiles? You can think it’s a stupid idea all you want, but at least it’s an idea, at least I’m trying here.” Scott told him, his voice tightly controlled, making it clear that though he was upset, he still was trying to keep a handle on it. He did though stand up off the bed, causing his beta to worry that the two friends were about to fight with more than just their words.

Mason and Liam watched the two seniors continue to argue in silence, unsure of what to say and unsure if they should even get involved. They were both starting to get angry with each other, though in different ways and probably for different reasons. When Stiles would get mad, he would let it run its course, he would let it happen. Scott though, would do his best to bury it, to keep it completely under his control. He would have to be beyond furious before he would let that rage out. Liam had only seen it happen once, when he fought with Peter in Mexico, and even then, he kept it under control. Liam hoped that the argument between the two wouldn’t make Scott lose it.

“And I’m just trying to keep you from doing something stupid. And believe me, you have not made that easy.” Scott’s eyes visibly flashed with anger when Stiles said that, but he then lowered his head and took a deep breath, trying to collect himself, reminding himself that Stiles was still just upset with what happened with Theo and with his Dad.

“I get that you’re mad at me for trusting Theo, but I’m trying to make it right. It would be nice if you could stop doubting me and reminding me of my mistakes at every turn. It would be nice if you trusted me.” Scott decided to cut right to the heart of the matter.

“We trusted you when you decided to let Theo into the pack, didn’t we?” Stiles shot at him, folding his arms across his chest, making it clear that he was not going to budge anytime soon.

“Okay.” Scott mumbled as he lowered his head and slipped the necklace in his hand into his jacket pocket. He didn’t have the time or the energy to fight with Stiles about this anymore. He was tired of it, tired of having his mistakes thrown in his face repeatedly, and tired of thinking his relationship with his best friend was starting to get back on track only for Stiles to break it down again by continuing to hold on to his anger.

“Okay what?” Stiles asked, not at all expecting Scott to just back down like he seemingly did. Scott though ignored the question for a moment as he grabbed the keys to his bike off his nightstand, then turned to face Stiles.

“Okay I’m done with this. I’m positive that I’m right about the pike being melted down into this necklace, and personally, I really want to keep Theo from hurting anyone else, so I’m going to go find him, see if he is the Beast now, and see if I’m right. If I am, then I’m going to stop him. And if you want to just sit here complaining about how I decided to give a childhood friend the benefit of the doubt, then that’s your choice. But I don’t have to listen to it.” Once Scott said that, he walked out of the room, leaving both Liam and Stiles to stand in complete shock over what just happened.

The shock quickly left though and realization over what the Alpha was going to do took over the three teenagers and they ran down the stairs after him.

“Scott!” Stiles called out as they got to the main floor of the house. By the time they got there, they could both here the engine of Scott’s bike driving away from the house. Stiles rushed over to the window just in time to see Scott disappear from sight.

“I think you pushed him over the edge a little.” Liam said quietly. Mason nodded in agreement while Stiles looked over his shoulder to glare at the younger teenagers, before looking back out the window.

“What do we do now? We can’t let him go alone.” Liam asked, looking over at Stiles. Though he had the same doubts as the human did, he hated the idea of his Alpha going head first into danger all alone.

“We, um.” Stiles tried to come up with an idea. He was not expecting Scott to react the way he did, and there was a part of him that did want to go after his friend, but the pride and anger inside held him back. Liam and Mason watched Stiles continue to try and think of what they should do now when the door to the house suddenly opened. They both turned to see who it was, hoping that Scott had come back, but it was someone else, someone they weren’t expecting.

“Lydia?” The redhead turned to see who had said her name. When she saw Stiles and Liam, she headed over to them.

“Where’s Scott?” Lydia asked, her voice filled with worry.

“He left to go after Theo. He has this theory about what happened to the pike, but it seems a little far fetched to me.” Stiles answered.

“What is his theory?” Lydia then questioned, hoping that maybe Scott had figured out how to stop the newest threat in Beason Hills.

“That it’s the necklace that Kate gave Allison, back before she knew about werewolves.” Stiles replied, his tone making it clear that he believed the idea was stupid.

“That’s actually a good theory.” Lydia surprised the Sheriff’s son by agreeing with what Scott believed.

“You serious?” Stiles wondered, not at all understanding at how the smartest person in their pack believed that Scott was right about the pike being melted down into a necklace.

“Hey, human sacrifices seemed like a pretty far fetched idea, but it turned out to be true.” Lydia was quick to remind him.

“That’s different.” Stiles quickly objected, beginning to get angry once again that Lydia seemed to be siding with Scott over him.

“How?” Lydia wondered. Stiles opened his mouth though no words came out. The only explanation he had for the sacrifices was that that was how Druids sacrificed people and that no werewolf would take the time do kill them the way they did. Scott didn’t have any other proof beside the necklace apparently being handed down to the women of the family.

Before Stiles could tell her that though, the front door again opened without the person knocking and Stiles wasn’t sure if he should be surprised at who it was.

“Derek?” The older werewolf, along with Cora, Jackson, Ethan, and Isaac, who came into the house after him, all saw the four others in the house and went over to them.

“Where’s Scott? He sent me a text saying that he knew what the pike that killed the Beast was melted down into.” Derek demanded, looking worried and bit upset that Scott wasn’t present at the moment.

“He thinks it’s the necklace. The one that Kate gave Allison.” Stiles informed him, again making it clear that the theory was dumb. Derek though, nodded.

“Makes sense.” Stiles rolled his eyes, not as surprised as he was before when Lydia agreed that Scott was right. Stiles though got a little nervous when Derek asked, “Where is he?”

“He went out to find Theo by himself.” Stiles slowly responded, seeing Derek’s eyes turn cold as the werewolf took a step closer to him.

“Why didn’t you guys go with him?” Derek then questioned.

“Because the idea that they melted down a weapon into a useless necklace is kind of stupid. And, how can we even trust that Gerard was telling the truth? He’s manipulative, lying, psychopath.” Stiles responded, resting to the urge to flinch when he saw Derek’s eyes flash angrily.

“So, because you think Scott is wrong, you just let him go out alone?” Derek tried to get the facts straight, though it was obvious he was not happy with what had apparently happened. Neither was anyone else in the room, but they wisely stayed out of it, fearing that they might get their heads bitten off.

“It’s not like Scott has been right about a lot of things lately, Derek.” Stiles reasoned. Derek though, was having none of it.

“And you’re always right?”

“I was right about Theo.” Stiles brought up the chimera once again, causing the tension in the room to reach it’s breaking point.

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this.” Everyone instinctively flinched and took a step back when they heard the rage in Derek’s voice, though it was only directed at Stiles who he then pointed it and said, “I’ve been keeping my mouth shut because Scott asked me to but you are going too far Stiles.”

“‘Too far’? By giving my honest opinion that melting down a weapon into a necklace and trusting Gerard is really stupid?” Stiles then questioned, not ready to back down just yet. He knew Derek long enough to know that he wouldn’t actually attack him, not yet anyways.

“You and I both know that that is not what this is about. It’s about you still holding on to all of that anger you feel because you are holding Scott personally accountable for what _Theo_ , did.” Derek told him, emphasising Theo’s name to hopefully get Stiles to realize that it was Theo who was to blame and not Scott.

“If he had just listened to me in the first place and not trusted Theo or let him into the pack, none of this would’ve happened.”

“You really think Theo couldn’t have attacked your Dad, couldn’t have attacked any of you if he wasn’t in the pack?” Derek wondered, knowing that over half the enemies they had attacked them from outside of the pack and still managed to hurt them. He had no idea why Stiles seemed to think that Theo only managed to hurt them because Scott let him in, especially if he still was unaware of what the chimera did to Scott.

“He could’ve easily attacked you all without being in the pack. But he wanted to get in because-” Before Derek could finish his sentence though, Stiles cut him off.

“Because he wanted to form his own pack and wanted the evil versions of us to be in it.”

“And because he wanted to separate you all from Scott.” Derek added.

“Isn’t that what I just said?” The human asked, not sure why the werewolf was focusing on that bit of information.

“You’re not listening to me Stiles.” Derek said with an exasperated tone.

“Why should I? You’re just telling me everything I already know.” Stiles replied before continuing on a rant, “Theo joined the pack to get us to trust him so we’d join his evil pack. And if Scott had just listened to me when I told him not to trust Theo, none of this would’ve happened. But he did, and because of that, my Dad almost died.”

“And Scott actually did die you idiot!” Derek shouted at the top of his lungs. Again everyone flinched, but for more reasons then one this time as the former Alpha’s words sank into each and every single one of them.

“What?” Stiles’s voice was filled with shock and horror by what Derek had just said.

“That’s the other reason why Theo wanted you all separated. So he could get close to Scott, close enough to kill him, so he could become an Alpha. And that night, the night when your Dad was attacked, the night of the supermoon, he did. He killed Scott. He’s only alive because Melissa found him and was able to revive him.” Derek informed the group, feeling slightly upset that he had broken his promise to Scott to not say anything, but he knew that they needed to know.

“No, that’s not possible. Scott’s stronger than him, he would’ve easily beaten him. And it was a supermoon, he would’ve been even stronger.” Stiles tried to object, unable to comprehend that his best friend had died and he didn’t know.

“Except that Theo had been poisoning him with wolfsbane through his inhaler, and had Liam attack him first.” Derek explained how Theo defeated him, glancing over at the youngest member of the pack when he mentioned his name.

“But he was fine when I left.” Liam told them, hoping that the others wouldn’t be that mad with him now that they knew he had attacked their Alpha. He still didn’t really know the four werewolves Derek brought with him and had no idea how they would react to the knowledge that had beaten the crap out of Scott.

“Theo showed up when you were gone.” Derek replied.

“That can’t be true. Mason was there, he would’ve told me if,” Liam turned to look over at his best friend, knowing that Mason would’ve told him if Scott had died. But when he saw his friend lower his head, he knew that that was not the case. He took a step back and practically begged, “No, tell me Derek’s wrong.”

“I can’t.” Mason responded, slowly looking up at Liam as he started to explain, “Theo showed up only minutes after you left and knocked me out. When I woke up, Scott was lying on the ground, dead. Scott’s Mom then showed up and preformed CPR on him, even though he had been dead for 15 minutes. And somehow, he came back.”

“But if Theo was going to kill him, Lydia would’ve,” Stiles started, but when he looked over at the banshee, he saw the same look on her face that was on Mason’s, shame for keeping what happened to Scott a secret from the others.

“I did. But Theo attacked me, clawed my neck to figure out how to find the Nemeton before I could warn anyone.” Lydia explained what happened to her that kept her from telling the others that she knew Scott was going to die.

For a long moment, everyone stood in silence. Jackson, Ethan, Isaac, and Cora were just as blindsided and shocked as the others, though, Isaac was more taken back then the other three were as he was far closer to Scott than they were. Stiles, Liam, and Isaac couldn’t believe that their Alpha, their leader, their friend had actually been killed, had been dead for 15 minutes and none of them knew anything about it. That Derek, Lydia, and Mason had known about it though, and never said anything.

“Why didn’t he say anything? Why didn’t any of you guys say anything?” Stiles then demanded an answer as to why he, and the others were left alone in the dark.

“Scott begged us not to. He, believed that since you were all already so upset with him for trusting Theo in the first place, that if you knew Theo killed him, you wouldn’t think he wasn’t strong enough to stop Theo or the Dread Doctors.” Derek answered, giving him the first reason that Scott had given him before they left to go get Kira. Stiles though, like Derek, knew that there had to be something else going on.

“There’s more to that story though, isn’t there?” Stiles confronted, taking a few steps closer to Derek.

“Look, you guys can talk about it with Scott later, but for now, we need to go help him. He can’t fight them alone.” Derek brushed off the question, and turned to head for the door.

“Derek, what else aren’t you telling us?” Stiles’s question stopped the werewolf, who then turned around to face him, and everyone else.

“Theo killed him by literally clawing his heart.” Stiles visibly clenched his jaw when he heard that, but he stayed quiet as Derek continued, “The wounds he left by doing that, they haven’t healed. They’re still there, and it’s making Scott weaker.”

Derek’s revelation immediately caused everyone to feel a rush of fear inside of them know that they knew that not only was Scott going to go up against Theo, and possibly the Dread Doctors completely alone, he was going to do it while injured.

“Okay, we need to go, now.” Stiles stated and ran for the door with the others right on his heels.

 **TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott walked through the woods slowly, looking at his surroundings with a careful eye as he tried to find the chimera who had caused so many problems and had hurt so many innocent people. He had quickly caught Theo’s scent as he drove through the streets, and followed it all the way to the other side of Beacon Hills, the far side of the forest that surrounded the city. Once there, he parked his bike and continued on foot, not exactly sure what he was looking for, but continued nonetheless, positive that he would know it when he saw it.

The Alpha knew that going off alone was a bit stupid, that at the very least, he could’ve waited for Derek, but considering how Stiles acted to his theory that Allison’s necklace was the pike that Marie-Jeanne used to destroy the Beast, he doubted that Derek would react any better. He’d probably tell him that Gerard wasn’t telling the truth just like Stiles did. And while they were right, that Gerard wasn’t a very trustworthy person, Scott just knew that he had been telling the truth. He had no reason to lie after all, not that Scott could see that is. And Scott just also knew that he was right about Allison’s necklace was the pike. He had no idea how, but he just knew he was right.

Of course, sense he couldn’t really explain it, that had to mean he was wrong according to Stiles. It’s not like Stiles had real proof that Theo was evil either. It was just a gut feeling to him, but he since he was right and Scott was wrong, that must mean that the werewolf was wrong.

Scott stopped in his tracks and took another deep breath to calm himself down, placing his hand in his pocket, feeling the small jar filled with the talons that Hayden had given him. He had forgotten about the talons until he saw them on the table when he was leaving the house. He wasn’t quite sure what they could do, but he grabbed them anyways, knowing that if he was about to fight Theo and the Dread Doctors alone, he would need any help he could get.

As he took another deep breath, he slowly felt himself calming down. After all, getting upset at Stiles again wasn’t going to do anything. While he did truly understand why Stiles was still so upset at him, as, in his eyes, Scott had betrayed him, but the Alpha was just getting tired of Stiles’s refusal to understand Scott’s side of the story, and his refusal to forgive him. Every single time Stiles reminded him of his mistake about Theo and would make it clear how he still blamed Scott, it felt like he was getting his heart clawed into pieces all over again.

As though Theo knew that Scott was thinking of him, and looking for him, he suddenly appeared.

“Hello Scott.” The Alpha immediately turned around in time to see Theo come out from behind a large tree, “Looking for me?”

Scott didn’t reply, but did let his eyes flash red for a minute. As Theo started walking closer to him, he said, “I don’t suppose you are here to join me, which is a shame. With you in my pack, we’d be unstoppable to anyone who gets in our way.”

“Believe it or not, you aren’t the first power mad werewolf to want me in their pack. And trust me, I think would’ve picked him over you.” Scott then replied, squaring his shoulders and staring straight into Theo’s eyes.

“Ouch. That hurts.” Theo commented with fake pain, actually bringing up his hand to his chest as though he had been hurt. Scott didn’t say anything to that, he just continued to stare at Theo, making it clear that he wasn’t going to let him go this time.

“Well, if you aren’t here to join me, I can only assume you are here to kill me. Are you sure you can defeat me though? You couldn’t before, and I’m a lot stronger now than I was that night.” Theo started to brag, confirming what Scott already knew.

“I know what you took from the Dread Doctors, and I know you used it to become as powerful as the Beast.” Scott told him. If Theo was surprised that Scott knew about the Beast, he didn’t show it. Instead, he smiled and continued walking towards the Alpha.

“That’s where you’re wrong Scott. I’m not just as powerful as the Beast of Gevaudan.” Theo started to say as his eyes turned completely white? Blue? and a black smoke started to envelope him and his voice became and more monstrous as he finished, “I am the Beast.”

The smoke then completely cleared away, leaving Scott staring at the largest, most monstrous werewolf he had ever seen, and with a second of hesitation, he let the wolf inside of him come out as he prepared to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m going to let you guys know something before I post the next chapter. I am not very good at writing fight scenes. It is something I am trying to work on and get better at, but it’s not my strong suit. The next two chapters will have some fight scenes, and I will do my best to make sure they are good, but if they’re a little sloppy, I apologize in advance.


	20. United We Stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I return with the next chapter. Only four more left after this. Again, writing fight scenes is not my strong suit, so I’m really sorry if it’s a bit sloppy. Hope you all like it though!

Minutes after the pack left the house, they were on the road, trying to find out where Scott had gone after picking up the rest of the group. Derek led the small convoy in his Camaro. Isaac, Braeden, and Liam with him. Right behind him was Stiles with his Jeep, accompanied by Lydia, Malia, and Kira. They had picked up the former two once they left Scott’s house as they knew they needed all the help they could get and that they weren’t aware of what all happened yet.

Jackson then brought up the rear with his Porsche. Ethan and Cora rode with him. Mason, not wanting to get in the middle of a supernatural fight as he had no idea how to fight, instead called Corey to check on him and the other chimeras before heading over to make sure they were alright.

In the blue Jeep, everyone was pretty quiet. Malia and Kira weren’t there when it was revealed that Scott had died that night, so they were still struggling to process that bit of information while Lydia was more worried that they weren’t going to find their leader in time. Stiles, was a mix of both emotions, his anxiety level beginning to rise well off the charts. 

“I can’t believe Scott didn’t say anything.” Stiles mumbled to himself. He then looked over at Lydia, realizing that she knew the entire time what happened to his best friend and didn’t tell him, even when she was trying to encourage him to see Scott’s side and to forgive him. With a more accusing tone, he said to the banshee, “I can’t believe you didn’t say anything.”

“Scott begged me not too and I wasn’t going to go behind his back like that. Theo already messed him up enough because of that.” Lydia tried to explain to her fellow classmate and friend.

Though Scott was doing a good job of keeping it hidden, she could tell that Theo stabbing him the back the way he did had definitely affected him, and not just because he actually killed him. Despite being a werewolf, what most people would consider a monster, the Alpha had a pure heart, and Theo had taken advantage of that and she knew that Scott would never be the same because of that. That piece of innocence he still had was gone.

“He still should’ve said something.” Malia chimed in, moving to place her head in between Lydia and Stiles.

“And what would you have done if you knew? You had basically left the pack, remember?” Lydia replied as she turned her head to look at her, slightly upset with the werecoyote’s attitude. Malia still didn’t look happy, but gave her a nod of understanding and sat back down on her seat. As Lydia was about to turn her head back to face the road, she saw the look Kira’s face, an expression of guilt, fear, and shock.

“Kira, it was just because you were out of town and Scott didn’t want you to worry.” Lydia assured the kitsune with a gentle tone. While she had no idea if Scott would’ve actually told his girlfriend about his death by Theo’s hands if she was in town, she knew that his reasons for keeping it secret from the rest of the pack was most likely different depending on the pack member.

“What about me? I’m his best friend.” Stiles demanded, still not at all happy he had been left in the dark. He and Scott had been best friends since they were kids, they had gone through everything together. From Scott’s Dad leaving, to Stiles’s Mom dying, to Scott becoming a werewolf. He couldn’t believe that his best friend wouldn’t tell him of his death.

“That had been blaming him for everything Theo had done. Would you have been going around saying it’s his own fault that Theo killed him because he didn’t listen to you?” Lydia questioned, turning her head back to face the driver. Stiles had the good sense to immediately drop the accusing expression, an almost sad and dejected one taking its place before he turned his head back to face the road.

“I don’t know.” The human replied after a moment, his voice so quiet that the three girls in the Jeep barely heard him. Deep down, Stiles knew that she was right, that she had always been right. Lydia was hardly ever wrong after all. It was just so much easier to get mad at everyone else, blame them for what had happened, even though it wasn’t their fault. He couldn’t do it anymore though. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair.

“Probably one of the many reasons Scott didn’t say anything.” Lydia said, her voice nearly as quiet as his was. She knew that the werewolf had more than one reason for keeping his death a secret, she could tell that night when she realized that Theo had killed him and Scott begged her not to tell anyone. The banshee didn’t know what the other reasons were, but she kept her mouth shut because they had to have been important for him to not want anyone to know about it.

Lydia brushed the thought off though when she felt something settle into the pit of her stomach. A sort of ache that she had learn to recognize very quickly when her banshee powers came out after Peter attacked her on the lacrosse field. It was usually followed by cold feeling in her veins, then the blind walking and/or driving to a spot she had no intention of going until she found a dead body and screamed.

Knowing that they didn’t have time to argue about this, that they had more important things to focus on, Lydia said, “Look, it doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that we find him before anything happens to him.”

“Please tell me you aren’t feeling him dying or anything.” Stiles pleaded, now looking more terrified than he did when Derek told them about how Scott was weaker because his injuries hadn’t healed.

Lydia kept her head straight, looking right out the windshield and replied, “Something bad is going to happen, I just don’t know what yet.”

Stiles, now even more terrified than he already was, pushed a little harder on the gas pedal, but was unable to go much faster as he was following the black Camaro in front of him who was leading them to Scott.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

In the black Camaro leading the convoy, it was also fairly quiet. Derek was so focused on driving and finding the missing Alpha, constantly leaning his head closer to the open window to see if he could find Scott’s scent. So far, nothing yet. He probably could find it better if he slowed his car down, he was already going faster than the speed limit, but they didn’t have time to go slow. They needed to find their Alpha, their friend, now. Braeden, who was in the seat beside him, placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him a little and while Derek was grateful for that, it didn’t help.

Isaac and Liam were silent in the back seat, both lost in their own thoughts. Isaac had known inside that something was wrong with their Alpha. Before Derek had called him, Jackson, and Ethan, he had felt something happened. Though he wasn’t in Beacon Hills, and wasn’t really a member of the pack anymore, at least, he wasn’t sure if he was, he still felt like Scott was his Alpha, and still talked to him on the phone or through email on a regular basis, and had felt something break inside of him. It was only for a few minutes, but it still left him wondering what it was. Now he knew, and he was regretting ever leaving Beacon Hills. If he had stayed, he could’ve protected Scott. 

“Do you think Scott’s gonna be okay?” Liam finally broke the silence, looking over at Derek.

“He’s strong. He can take of himself, at least, long enough for us to get there.” Braeden assured him with a voice that left no room for arguments. Whether or not she truly believed it though, was another story.

Isaac watched the younger werewolf with careful eyes, studying him, trying to figure him out. He didn’t know much about Liam, except that he was the only member in the pack that Scott had turned himself, and apparently had anger issues, IED. He didn’t know much about his relationship with Scott either, except that Scott was protective over him which wasn’t surprising at all. What did surprise him was the knowledge that Liam apparently attacked him, hurt him enough to weaken him so that Theo could kill him. While he was furious that the new beta had done such a thing, he could smell the fear, guilt, and anxiety coming off the younger teenager in waves.

“What?” Liam practically growled at the other blonde werewolf when he saw that Isaac was looking at him.

“Calm down. You aren’t going to be able to help if you’re too wrapped up in your own self-guilt and anxiety.” Isaac responded with a simple tone, but Liam could easily make out the anger underneath it and knew it was because of what he did to the high school senior the night of the supermoon.

“I just, can’t believe that I let Theo manipulate me into attacking Scott.” Liam said with a quiet, guilt-ridden tone as he looked down at the floor of the car.

“Why did you attack him?” Isaac asked, knowing that that bit of information would definitely help him decide what he thought of Scott’s newest pack member.

“My girlfriend was dying because of everything the Dread Doctors did to her. Scott wouldn’t give her the bite.” Liam explained, feeling slightly more justified in his reasons, though only the slightest as he knew that despite his right to be angry, he had no right to attack his Alpha, especially not with the goal of killing him. Isaac nodded, understanding Liam’s reason though still not happy with the younger beta’s actions.

“He had his reasons.” Derek spoke up, having been listen to the conversation in the back seat.

“He said he thought it would kill her, but I thought he still should’ve tried.”

“It might have just made things worse Liam.” Derek told him, his voice actually sounding sympathetic, which surprised the younger werewolf.

“What do you mean?” Liam wondered, looking up at the older werewolf.

“If we all live through this, remind me to tell you why my eyes are blue.” Derek said. Liam’s interest immediately peaked as he started to think of what had happened to the older man that made his eyes blue, especially when he saw what he believed to be a look of grief in his eyes. While Liam wanted answers now though, he stayed quiet, knowing not to try and get Derek to do something he didn’t want to do, and knowing he would get answers soon. Suddenly, Derek tensed and make a sharp right turn without slowing down, causing everyone to fall to their left.

“You got his scent?” Braeden asked once the turn was made, though she knew the answer given what her boyfriend had just done and the fact he was pushing harder on the gas.

“Yup. We’re not very far.” Derek replied, clenching the steering wheel tightly in his hands, hoping that they weren’t too late.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Scott wasn’t sure how long he and Theo, no, the Beast, had been fighting before the giant werewolf finally got a lucky swipe with his large paw. When the Alpha had seen the size of the monster, he knew that he couldn’t go right at him, not exactly. The Beast was too big, and most likely stronger than him. The best way to defeat him, was for Scott to go on the defense. He was smaller and quicker than the Beast, and if he was going to defeat him, he had to use that.

And he did. The Alpha constantly ducked out of the way when the monster swiped his claws at him, then he was claw the Beast himself as the monstrous werewolf was more unbalanced when he tried to attack the smaller one. Doing attacks like that though meant the fight was going to be longer, especially since it seemed like the injuries Scott inflicted on him had no effect whatsoever. And the Alpha needed to either get the Beast in the right spot, or weak enough for Scott to get the necklace around his neck, hoping that using it to strangle him would be enough.

While Scott had been holding his own in the fight, the Beast soon realized the other werewolf’s strategy and anticipated his next move and swiped him across his lower torso, his claws cutting deep into Scott’s stomach. The Alpha instinctively covered the injuries with his right arm as the adrenaline flooding his body was replaced with the sharp pain caused by deep gashes.

As the Beast moved again to swipe his claws again, Scott raised his left arm to block him, but the monster simply clawed his arm, the force of the blow causing the young Alpha to fall to the ground. A pained grunt escaped Scott’s lips when he hit the ground, the wounds on his chest also throbbing in extreme discomfort. With the adrenaline running through his veins, he barely felt it, but now that he was feeling the pain from his new injuries, he became aware of how much his older injuries were hurting.

Scott got quickly pushed himself to his knees, but as his healing was a lot slower due to the fact he still hadn’t healed from the claw marks on his chest, he wasn’t strong enough to get back to his feet yet. Seeming to realize that, the Beast didn’t move to attack again, instead, smoke once again covered the figure and Scott pushed himself further away from the werewolf/chimera.

“You know Scott, I’m not surprised at all that you would try to stop me, but I really didn’t think you’d do it alone.” Theo said as the smoke cleared and he was again the normal-looking, human teenager, “I don’t know if that makes you brave or foolish.”

“Unless of course, your pack didn’t want to come.” Theo theorized. When Scott didn’t say anything, only glaring at him instead, the other teenager stopped in his tracks and as a cheerfully sick grin came upon his face, he asked, “Oh, is that it?”

“I can’t believe the great Scott McCall, the True Alpha has actually become an omega, completely alone, just like he was in the library that night.” Theo laughed, completely filled with glee at how well he did in breaking Scott’s pack apart.

“Hey Theo!” Both Theo and Scott turned their heads to see Stiles come out from behind the trees, with a bat in his hand. Swinging it, he hit Theo directly in the face.

“Shut up.” Stiles said in a simple tone, though it was filled with disdain as well.

Scott watched with slight amusement as he pushed himself to his knees. The amusement turned to fear though when he saw that Theo was already recovering from the blow and turning back into the Beast. He immediately started to get to his feet to protect his best friend who had dropped his bat and was now walking backwards away from Theo, but then Scott saw the rest of the pack running towards them. Derek actually jumped into the air at the monster and pushed him hard enough for him to fall onto his back.

The rest of the pack immediately joined the oldest werewolf in the pack. Even Braeden was there, shooting at the Beast, though that didn’t last long as the others started getting into her line of shot and she didn’t want to hurt them. Stiles, Lydia, and Kira though, all rushed over to Scott who had already moved to sit up and was about to get to his feet. His girlfriend and friends quickly reached his side.

“You okay?” Kira asked worriedly, placing a hand on his shoulder while Stiles did the same on Scott’s other side. Lydia looked as concerned as the others, but stayed on her feet, keeping an eye on the fight just in case the Beast tried to come their way.

“I’m fine. Where did you all come from?” Scott questioned, completely confused by his friends’ sudden appearance. After how he left Stiles, Liam, and Mason at his house, he didn’t think they would come after him. At least, not all of them, but here they were.

“From following you. You didn’t think we were going to let you do something so incredibly stupid by yourself, did you?” Stiles answered sarcastically, but the smile on his face told him that he wasn’t actually upset. Not at the moment anyways. Grateful that his best friend was here, that they were all here, Scott smiled back as he let Stiles help him back up to his feet.

Scott had been expecting to have a bit of a problem being on his feet, that it would be harder to stay standing considering how much his wounds were hurting only moments earlier. To his surprise though, it wasn’t. If anything, the adrenaline and his healing, though still slower than normal, made it feel like it only a minor annoyance, and the Alpha quickly realized why. It was because his pack was here, fighting with him. The wolf inside him could feel it, and their power, their presence was helping him.

The leader was about to get ready to rejoin the fight, as was Kira while Stiles, once seeing that Scott was up on his feet and steady, was about to back away so not to get injured, as did Lydia, when the Beast was finally pushed to down to the ground, lying flat on his back. Scott immediately put his hand in his pocket to grab the necklace, but was stopped when his youngest beta noticed something.

“Guys? We got another problem.” Liam told the group. Everyone looked away from the Beast who was still on the ground to see the three Dread Doctors coming towards them.

Nobody really moved at first, unsure of what was going on or what they should do. Scott knew, as did Derek, Isaac, Stiles, and Liam, that while the Doctors did want the Beast, they didn’t want Theo to be the one to become it, that he had stolen it from them. And now, it looked like they were about to deal with him themselves.

Malia then finally moved, about to attack the Doctors who started this entire mess with their insane and disgusting experiments and their desire to create the perfect killing machine, but Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back. She fought him a little, but stopped when the Beast got up to his feet. The four completely ignored the pack and instead, started stalking over to each other before they started fighting.

“Are they trying to kill Theo?” Derek questioned as the pack grouped together, watching the Doctors and the Beast continue fighting each other. It didn’t look like either side was winning or losing. They both seemed to be holding their own.

“I have no idea.” Stiles answered, also slightly confused by what was happening. The Doctors wanted to create the Beast, why were they now trying to kill him?

“Not completely. They want the Beast, not the chimera.” Scott tried to explain, though he was a bit unsure of how the Doctors were going to separate the two without killing them both.

“So, should we let them deal with him?” Stiles wondered, thinking that if the Doctors took care of Theo, then they would have one less problem to worry about.

“We might not get another chance at destroying the Beast.” Scott though pointed out. If they did let the Doctors separate the Beast and Theo, and if they actually did kill Theo, then they still had to deal with the possibility of another Beast and the Doctors themselves. The others nodded, also coming to the realization that Scott had, but their attention was then quickly drawn back to the fight between the Dread Doctors and the Beast when the Beast pushed the Doctors away with his arm hard enough that they flew through air and landed hard on the ground like bricks.

Though the Dread Doctors remained on the ground instead of getting back up, it was clear that they weren’t dead, not yet at least. Considering all the blows, slashes, kicks, and punches that the Beast had laid on them, Scott wondered if the Doctors truly were invincible. The thought caused a feeling of hopelessness to rise up inside him. If a powerful, monstrous, demon wolf couldn’t stop the Dread Doctors, how could he and his pack?

Scott then looked around at his friends, his pack made up of the most random, unconventional people that if someone saw the group from the outside, they would wonder how in the world did they become friends. Scott knew it was a mix of terrible experiences and some connection to the supernatural, but deep down, he also knew that if was because of him. He befriended them, he fought for them, did his best to protect them, and they were here, willing to fight for this town because he was. The Alpha didn’t feel it was fair for them to be fighting his enemy, but he was grateful they were. And he knew that they would fight with him no matter the odds. That was how they were going to win, together.

As Scott then turned back to face the Beast, he saw that the monster had turned to look at them, a threatening, menacing, expression on his face, and it was just directed at the Alpha, it was directed at his pack too. The protectiveness that came with being their friend and their leader surged through Scott’s body at the sight and without a second thought, he charged at the monster, his pack right on his heels.

Once Scott reached the Beast, everything turned red and dim as he immediately started attacking him, his werewolf side starting to take over. The rage he had been keeping shut deep down inside of him for everything Theo had done to him, to his pack came out now as he threw punches, slashes, and kicks in the Beast he was fighting. The human part of him always feared letting out this rage that came with being a werewolf, with being hunted and targeted, but right now, he didn’t care. No one messed with his pack and got away with it, and it was time to show Theo why.

Though everyone, even Stiles and Lydia ran forward to help, it was soon clear that they didn’t need too. Scott appeared to have everything under control. He punched, kicked and clawed the monster he was fighting. Theo, the Beast, tried to block him, but the True Alpha was stronger and pushed his arms away and continued landing blow after blow. When the Beast tried to do the same to Scott though, the teenager moved out of the way. The Beast couldn’t touch him.

The fight reminded Stiles of Scott’s fight with Peter in Mexica, but it was more vicious, and impressive actually. Stiles wondered why Scott didn’t do this before, but quickly realized it was because they weren’t there. Sure, they weren’t actually taking part in the fight now, but them simply being there was enough to motivate the Alpha. Scott was all about saving and protecting his friends and their presence woke that urge inside him. It was that urge that gave him strength and power. It was that urge that made him a True Alpha.

Finally, Scott landed a blow that pushed the Beast hard enough to fall onto his stomach. Moving fast so the Beast wouldn’t have a chance to get up, Scott pulled the necklace out of his pocket, and wrapped it around the monster’s neck. He then pulled on it hard enough to force the Beast’s upper body back up against the Alpha a little.

Before he could completely fall on Scott and crush him with his weight, smoke once again started surrounding the Beast, but it was different then it was the other times Scott had seen it. It was harsher, and the Beast let out a loud, painfilled shriek that nearly deafened the Alpha before it evaporated completely and all at once. Suddenly, it was Theo again. Seeing the Beast was gone, Scott pulled away, dropping the necklace as he did so while Theo fell down flat on his face.

Legs trembling a little, Scott started to make his way back to the group who was also coming closer to him, though Derek, Jackson, Ethan, Cora, and Malia kept one eye Theo as well, just in case he was about to get up and attack them.

“It worked.” Stiles stated, surprise evident in his voice as he reached Scott’s side. Though he followed his best friend, he was still very unsure if he was right about the necklace or not.

“Yeah, it did.” Scott confirmed with a smile as he looked over at Stiles. They both then pushed themselves to their feet, about to go join the others, they saw the Dread Doctors had gotten to their feet and were now staring at them. Though neither of them could see their faces due to their masks, they could tell from the way they were standing and were starting to come towards them that they were angry.

“I don’t think they’re too happy about that.” Stiles commented as he slowly started moving backwards, as did Scott. If he looked behind him, he would’ve seen the others do the same.

“Nope.” Scott quickly agreed. It was then the Doctors started moving faster, charging at the supernatural creatures, the hum of electricity caused by the Dread Doctors getting louder and louder, telling the group they were about to be attacked. Without a word, the werewolves, humans, werecoyote, banshee, and kitsune all started running, trying to get out of the line of fire.

Nobody was sure exactly where they were running to. They just knew they needed a place with some more cover. While most of the pack had never actually fought the Dread Doctors before, they heard from Scott and the others that still lived in Beacon Hills that they were strong, nearly invincible, and could move through reality, which meant they needed to get far enough away to come up with a plan to defeat them. It was as they were running that Malia saw a building she recognized. It was the abandoned factory that she, Braeden, Derek, and Cora fought her mother only about a week ago.

“Over there!” Malia shouted to the others before running towards the factory, not even looking behind her to see if the others were in fact following her. When the rest of the pack saw what Malia had seen and where she was going, they immediately came up behind her, all of them knowing they needed more cover and that the building could offer that. Once they were all inside, they all hid behind the support beams and pillars as they waited for the Doctors’ to appear

The Doctors followed them without any hesitation. For a minute, the pack, hiding behind the pillars and support beams, let them continue into the building. Once they were to the point where the pack was actually surrounding the three scientists, they all moved to attack. It didn’t work as well as they hoped. With the Doctors’ strength and near invincibility, any damage they inflicted seemed to have no effect on them, not matter how bad the blows.

“Any ideas on how to defeat these guys?” Stiles shouted his question to Scott over the noise of electricity from the Doctors and the growls from the werewolves. Scott was about to come up with one with the Dread Doctors pushed the pack members away from them, all either falling hard on the floor or hitting the support beams before they fell to the floor.

The Alpha was about to run at the Dread Doctors again, keep them busy so his pack had time to get back to their feet instead of lying down and being completely exposed, when something outside got the Doctors’ attention. Near the doorway stood a figure that was completely on fire. Despite the flames surrounding him, Scott and Stiles, as well as most of the pack, easily recognized who it was.

“Parrish.” Lydia whispered the name. She was slightly surprised it took the deputy so long to get here, as he had a head start on her and the others, and briefly wondered where the Argents were since they had followed him, but she brushed it off. He was here now, and from the looks of it, the Doctors weren’t happy with him either. It made sense to her though, they wanted to create the Beast and Parrish was the Hellhound, the one who was supposed destroy the Beast. Of course they would try to kill him.

And try they did. The Doctors immediately left the building to go after the Hellhound, again ignoring the werewolves, werecoyote, humans, banshee, and kitsune. Once they were gone, Scott rushed over to his friends, who were slowly pushing themselves up into a sitting position. Stiles and Lydia, who had also stayed out of the fight for the most part, headed towards the door to see that Parrish indeed had everything under control, or at least, if you counted the one Dread Doctor lying dead on the ground while he continued fighting the other, under control. They then also headed over to their friends to make sure they were alright.

“Is it really over?” Liam wondered as he got his feet along with the others. From the look on everyone’s faces, he knew he wasn’t the only one wondering. They destroyed the Beast, Parrish was taking care of the Dread Doctors, was it all finally over?

“Not yet.” Everyone turned to see Theo standing in the middle of the large doorway, electricity running through him and around him, his eyes turning a strange purple colour. While Scott may have destroyed the Beast, Theo still clearly wasn’t done fighting yet.

“Really?” Stiles practically whined, really wanting to be done with Theo. The chimera, with a furious yet sadistic grin, threw out his arms, shooting bolts of electricity at the pack, who all ducked for cover.

Theo kept firing his new power, the ability he had stolen from Josh when he killed him, at the werewolves, humans, werecoyote, kitsune and banshee. He kept moving, trying to hit them while the others continued ducking as well as running out of the way, trying to think of a plan. It soon became obvious that while Theo was aiming at all of them, he had a specific target when he found Scott on his knees, hidden between the wall and one of the support beams.

“You ruined everything!” Theo yelled, moving his arms to point straight at the Alpha and started to stalk closer to him, like a bird closing in on its prey. As the electricity started running through his arms and into the air, Kira stepped in front of Scott, holding out her sword which immediately absorbed the electricity meant to kill her boyfriend.

“I’ve got a message from the skinwalkers for you Theo.” Kira said, her eyes glowing a fiery orange, “Your sister wants to see you.”

While Kira had only been with the skinwalkers for a few days, she had learned a lot, especially about Theo. And even though she had left them when Scott and Stiles rescued her and her mother, at night, she could still hear their voices in her sleep. Her Mom told her that it was because they were trying to communicate with her, that they were still willing to help her, for a price of course. Now, it was time to make that deal in order to protect her boyfriend and her friends as well as everyone else from Theo.

The chimera looked beyond terrified when the kitsune mentioned his sister, taking a step back away from Kira and Scott, who was now getting back to his feet. Without another word or a warning, Kira stabbed her sword into the cement ground, which created a large crack that started running towards Theo before it stopped a few feet in front of him. Then, the crack turned into a giant hole in the floor and a girl with long brown hair crawled out.

“No, no!” Theo screamed as he turned to run, but the girl had already grabbed his ankle and was dragging him back down into the hole she had come from. As this was happening, the pack slowly came out of hiding and watched with a mixture of confusion and horror over what was going on. None of them had ever seen anything like this, and nobody knew what to do.

As Theo tried to grab at the ground, actually clawing it so he would no longer be pulled into the dark hole, he looked over at the Alpha he had killed and had been trying to kill again and yelled, “Scott! Help! Please!”

Scott, moving to stand beside Kira, watched with the same horror and confusion as the rest of the pack. Seeing Theo so helpless, so scared, made Scott’s heart clench tightly. With the shock and horror making him stand still in place, he and the rest of the pack watched as the girl, Theo’s sister, pull her brother into the hole, which closed up once they were gone, as though it was never there.

For a moment, the pack continued to stand and stare in shock, not sure of what just happened, nor what to do now. Kira pulled her sword out of the ground, and turned it back into her belt buckle as Scott put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, his other hand resting over the deep gouges on his stomach left by Theo in their latest fight. Though it was slow, he could feel them starting to heal. Everyone else looked at each other as the fact that Theo and the Dread Doctors were gone, and they were all alive fully sunk in.

“Now, it’s over.” Derek stated. After all, the chimeras that were still alive weren’t going to hurt anyone, the Dread Doctors were destroyed, and Theo had been dealt with. There was no other threat in Beacon Hills.

“Think again kiddos.” Though only Malia, Braeden, Derek, and Cora recognized the female’s voice who said that, everyone immediately tensed as they turned their heads to see a slim woman dressed in black leather come out from the back entrance in the warehouse, holding a hand gun tightly in both of her hands. With it pointed right at Malia’s chest, the woman pulled the trigger.


	21. Wolf with a Lion Heart

Everything moved so fast, yet appeared to be in slow motion at the same time. When the woman came out of the shadows, her gun pointed straight at Malia, everyone was too slow to move, or mostly everyone. Scott, having picked up on the woman’s presence just a few seconds before she revealed herself, was already moving. As she pulled the trigger, the Alpha came to run right in front of the gun, blocking the path of the bullet so that instead of hitting the werecoyote in his pack, it tore through his shoulder.

“Scott!” The Alpha barely heard his girlfriend scream his name, didn’t pay any attention to what was going on around him. His only focus was on the woman he assumed was the assassin, the Desert Wolf, and keeping her from hurting his pack.

Scott grabbed the gun tightly in both of hands, trying to pull it away from the assassin, but she kept moving it so he couldn’t grip it enough, the wound in his right shoulder making it difficult to hold on to the gun. So, in an effort to get him to let go, she fired the gun again, this time in his lower chest, in his ribcage. The Alpha grunted in pain, but ignored it and continued to try and pull the gun away from her, his protective instincts in complete overdrive, causing the Desert Wolf to fire her gun again, the bullet digging into his body just above his stomach.

Though the werewolf still gripped the gun as tight as he could, his injuries from fighting Theo, both times, and the new bullet wounds, he could feel himself starting to get weaker and weaker. He couldn’t hold on to it anymore. The pain that had been masked by his adrenaline was now turning into agony due to his continued fighting and he couldn’t push it back anymore. So, when the Desert Wolf moved one of her hand to grab his arm to push him away, he lost his hold on the weapon in her other hand and started to fall to the floor.

While it was all so slow to Scott, it all happened in seconds to the pack who were left watching the exchange. Once they saw and realized what was all going on, they all started running towards their Alpha and their newest threat, though Braeden pulled Lydia and Stiles out of the way as there was a gun being fired and knew that if they got hit, it would be a lot worse for them then it would be for their supernatural friends.

“Get away from him!” Malia’s growl was as loud as a yell as she charged at her mother, reaching her before the others did, and pushed her away from her Alpha who hit the ground hard. With the Desert Wolf losing her balance, and with the way the werecoyote attacked her, the two also fell to the ground, both of them rolling on the ground on each other.

Despite the anger the rest of the pack felt for what the Desert Wolf did to their Alpha, they knew, could feel that this wasn’t their fight. It was a coyote fight, a fight between a mother and her daughter. For the mother, a desire to regain her power, for the daughter, an urge to get justice for the woman that had caused the car crash that forced her to shift and kill her adoptive mother and little sister. Cora looked like she was going to ignore that though to help her newfound cousin, but a warning growl from Malia made her stop in her tracks. This was a coyote fight, not a wolf one.

So instead of jumping in to help, the pack created a line of defense between Malia and her mother, and the humans who were still staying out of the line of fire. They stayed in their werewolf form, eyes glowing, claws out, and fangs bared, ready to jump in the second it seemed necessary. As they did that, Derek and Isaac pulled Scott out of harms way and behind the line, helping him sit up against the wall.

Seeing that he was conscious, and assuming that he was already healing, they stood up, but Scott grabbed Derek’s arm, getting his complete attention. Scott then pulled something out of his coat pocket and placed it in his hand. Looking down at it, Derek saw it was a small jar with what looked like talons inside.

“Give it to Malia.” Scott told him, breathing heavily as he tried to get a hold of the pain flooding his body. Derek nodded before standing up and making his way to where the fight was happening.

“Malia!” Derek called out as he threw the jar Scott had given him towards the younger werecoyote. It hit the floor and shattered into pieces, it was within reaching distance of Malia, who had seen what it was and was moving to get the talons that were inside the jar.

“I want my power back!” The Desert Wolf demanded, pushing Malia as hard as she could into the floor, trying to move her hands so she could keep her daughter from attacking her and kill her at the same time. She was so focused on what she was doing though, that she didn’t see Malia had reached the talons from the broken jar.

“I want my family back!” Malia yelled back, and with all of her strength, she flipped them both so Corrine was on her back with Malia on top of her.

Not wasting a second, with the talons now attached to her claws, she stabbed her biological mother in the stomach. Not deep enough to kill, or in any spot that would kill her, but definitely hard and deep enough to keep her mother from moving as the younger werecoyote absorbed any power the older one had left. Within seconds, the Desert Wolf fell unconscious and Malia felt her eyes glowing brighter, the added power now running through her veins. It was intoxicating.

It was over nearly as soon as it began, and Malia pulled the talons out of her mother’s stomach, and stood up. Cora, who had been standing the closest, more than ready to help her cousin should she need it, then came over and helped her to her feet. The coyote gave her grateful, albeit small, smile once she was up on her feet. The attention though was turned back to their Alpha when Stiles called out his name.

“Scott!” Stiles yelled as he rushed to his side. He had seen the werewolf try to get up off the floor, only to fall back on his knees with a pained expression. As he reached his best friend, he asked, “Are you okay?”

The Alpha moved so he was leaning his back against the wall again, biting back the pained grunt that was in his throat as his sore muscles protested his movements. When he was finally in a good position, he looked to see that Stiles was kneeling on his left side, Kira on his right, and the rest of the pack was also coming over to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scott assured the group that was starting to surround him. None of them looked terribly convinced, but they let it be for a moment, especially since he had stopped moving to give himself time to heal, he had managed to hide the pain he was in.

Though they kept their mouths shut about whether they believed him or not, Kira placed her hand on the back of his head, her fingers running through his hair comfortingly, while Stiles placed his hand on Scott’s shoulder. Derek and Isaac came closer, as though they wanted to see for themselves how well the young Alpha was doing.

The blonde hovered protectively over him, but Derek actually got down on his knees beside Kira and laid his hand over Scott’s, taking away some of the pain he was in. The rest of the group relaxed more when they saw the older werewolf do that, now more confident that their leader was going to be okay.

“What now?” Ethan wondered, looking around the warehouse before glancing out the door where he knew the Dread Doctors’ bodies were.

“Let the police deal with her. I personally know that there are a few US Marshals still looking for the Desert Wolf to charge her with all the crimes she’s committed.” Braeden responded.

Though there was a part of her that thought it would just be better to kill her, if Malia had taken away her powers as a werecoyote, then she was almost harmless. Well, less lethal and dangerous then before. Plus, if she killed her, there would be an investigation and that would just create an even bigger mess.

No one objected to the mercenary’s plan, so she looked over at Stiles who was already pulling out his phone to call the police station, more specifically, his father who had returned to desk duty only yesterday. While he would’ve left his Dad out of the situation as he was still healing from the attack, and did object to his Dad returning to work so sooner, even if it was just desk duty, there was no one else they could call to handle what had just happened.

“Are you sure you’re okay Scott?” Kira asked quietly, her dark brown filled with worry as she watched her boyfriend closely.

“Yeah, I’m alright, just need a minute.” Scott answered with reassuring, crooked grin.

While Kira, Stiles, Derek, and Isaac stayed close to the Alpha, Braeden pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her back pants pocket, and cuffed the Desert Wolf’s hands behind her back. The assassin was still out cold so she didn’t put up a fight at all. Braeden then started searching her, removing any and all weapons she had on her. Cora then went over to her brother’s girlfriend to help while Malia stood watch, just in case her mother tried anything. Jackson and Ethan moved towards the large doors of the building, watching and listening for the police to arrive.

“They’re here.” Jackson stated, hearing the police sirens approaching nearly 10 minutes later. Stiles stood up, though he stayed close to Scott. He was about to go see which cop it was that had arrived, but then looked back down at Scott worriedly.

“You guys take of it. I’ll be there in a minute.” The Alpha told his pack.

“Are you sure?” Lydia questioned, looking very skeptical and unsure, as did the others Scott quickly noticed.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Scott answered with the smallest grin he had ever given anyone. If anything, it was more like he was biting back a wince, which was more than likely as the pain that Derek had taken only minutes earlier had returned.

Isaac, Stiles, Kira, and Derek didn’t look at all convinced, but they knew nothing they said was going to get Scott to change his answer. Kira and Stiles hesitantly got to their feet and started making their way out of the building with Jackson, Ethan, Malia, Isaac, and Cora. Derek though, looked over the injured Alpha again, trying to see if he should stay or if Scott was telling the truth and that he was actually okay.

Scott gave his werewolf mentor a nod, silently assuring him that was okay. When Derek still didn’t move, the Alpha said, “The police are going to have questions, especially if Stiles’s Dad isn’t here. Some explaining has to be done, like where Jackson, Ethan, Isaac, and Cora came from. I’ll be right out, just, go help them.”

Derek still didn’t look happy at being told to leave, some instinct in him telling him that he should stay with the young leader, but he understood Scott’s train of thought. With Jackson having filed a restraining order against Scott and Stiles, with Isaac being a suspect in his father’s murder, with Ethan having a practically no record of his existence since he and his brother Aiden had become werewolves, if not handled properly, could cause some problems with the law enforcement. And if the police started looking around and found Scott injured in the building, they’d call an ambulance and that would cause problems when they found him healing. Plus, Derek knew that Scott also wanted to be alone to heal. He didn’t like anyone seeing him weak like that. So, reluctantly, Derek went after the others.

The high school senior relaxed completely relaxed against the wall once Derek was gone, no longer feeling the need to hide the stabbing and throbbing ache in his muscles and bones now that his friends weren’t there to witness it. He wasn’t lying when he said he was okay, not completely. He was healing, and the pain was starting to die down now that he was no longer moving, giving his body a chance to rest and heal. After a minute or two, he felt strong enough to move, and started to push himself up to stand. He fell right back down though when he felt stabbing his body, burning it like a blowtorch in his shoulder, chest, and stomach.

Scott looked down to see if he could find the source of the pain only to discover, to his surprise, a fine, purple, mist flowing out of the bullet wounds on his torso and into the air. Wolfsbane poisoning. He had been running on such an adrenaline that he hadn’t even noticed the burning sensation in the injuries until now.

The Alpha brought his right hand up to touch one of the wounds, feeling the blood still running out of the wound, before pulling his hand away, inspecting it. Instead of the blood being red like it should be, it was black, a sure sign that the wolfsbane was already flooding through his system and his body was struggling to heal itself.

It was only a second after Scott realized that, that his legs were shaking under him. He took a step forward, intending to go get help, but his leg crumbled under his weight, bringing him down to his knees as the world seemed to tilt on its axis. Scott took a deep breath before trying to push himself up onto his feet, but his legs refused to support him, and he fell flat on his face, the pain of the sudden pressure on his injuries causing him to completely black out.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

It turned out that Scott didn’t have to worry about which police officer showed up, as it was only the Sheriff. Though they all knew they were going to have to come up with a plan as to what to do with the Dread Doctors bodies that were now lying on the ground as Parrish slowly came back to his senses, the Hellhound disappearing. They also had to find a way to explain to Theo’s parents what happened to him, or at least, come up with a believable lie, but they didn’t have to lie right now to any police officers or coroners. They had time to come up with a story.

The Sheriff quickly got out of the car the second he put it in park, and surveyed the damage with a stunned expression before becoming worried about Stiles. Turning his head to the right though, he found his son, Lydia, Kira, Liam, and to his surprise, Isaac, Jackson, Ethan, and Cora. He didn’t pay them much attention though as his only clear thought was that his son was alive.

“Stiles! You okay?” The Sheriff asked with a worried tone, pulling his only son into his arms once he reached him. Ever since he had learned the truth about the supernatural, and how much Stiles actually got involved, he always worried that one day, his son would get himself killed and tonight was no exception.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Stiles replied, hugging his Dad back tightly.

“Theo?” Stilinski questioned, hoping that the werewolf pack his son was in had finally stopped the chimera.

“Taken care of.” Stiles confirmed.

“Dread Doctors?” Stilinski then wondered about the crazy, supernatural scientists, not realizing that the burnt bodies on the ground were in fact the Doctors that had been experimenting on the kids in their town and killing the ones they believed were failures.

“Parrish dealt with them.” Lydia informed him, looking over at the Deputy who was slowly making his way towards the group, his clothes burnt nearly to the point he was no longer wearing any.

The Sheriff looked over at young officer, then at the bodies of what he assumed were the Dread Doctors. Considering how they looked burnt to a crisp, he had no doubt that it was Parrish who defeated them and after telling the deputy that he had brought another uniform for Parrish to change into, having been prepared in case something like this happened, he turned back to the few pack members around him.

“We need to deal with the bodies. If we take them in, the coroners are definitely going to have questions.” The Sheriff said to his son, Lydia, and Derek, hoping that they already had an idea of what to do.

“I’ll take care of them.” A voice everyone recognized chimed in. As they all turned their heads in the direction where the voice came from, they saw Argent coming over to them, gun in his hand.

“Where did you disappear to?” Lydia asked. She had been with Parrish, as well as Chris Argent and his father Gerard when Parrish turned into the Hellhound and ran off to go find the Beast and the Dread Doctors. Argent then told her to go tell Scott while he and Gerard said they would follow Parrish, but neither of them had made an appearance at all during the fight.

“Had some business to deal with, concerning Gerard.” That was all the explanation Argent gave and nobody asked for any more details. While they weren’t exactly sure what had happened between the hunters, as long as Gerard was ‘taken care of’, they didn’t want to know.

It was then that Braeden brought out the Desert Wolf, who had her hands cuffed behind her though considering how weakly she was walking and the dazed expression in her eyes, the handcuffs might not have been needed. Then again, she was an assassin, so, better safe than sorry.

“Who’s that?” Argent asked, not recognizing the woman the mercenary was leading away from the abandoned factory.

“The Desert Wolf, legal name Corrine, Malia’s mother.” Stiles answered. Seeing the confused expression on his father’s and Argent’s faces, he somewhat explained, “She just tried to kill her.”

“Okay, get her in the car.” Sheriff Stilinski immediately told Braeden when he heard that. Braeden nodded and continued leading the felon towards the cars. Cora came after her, holding the weapons that Derek’s girlfriend had taken from Corrine to bring to the Sheriff as she wasn’t sure what to do with them and most definitely did not want the Desert Wolf to get her hands on them again.

“Those her weapons?” The Sheriff asked, staring at everything in Cora’s hands.

“Yup. Two knifes, three handguns, and a whole whack of bullets.” Cora replied, holding them out for the Sheriff to see. Stilinski was about to tell her to get an evidence bag from the trunk of the police car when Argent spoke.

“Wait, let me see that.” Without waiting for any kind of response, the hunter reached forward, grabbed a bullet from one of the mags, and examined it closely.

“What is it?” Sheriff Stilinski asked, seeing the strange way that Argent was staring at the bullet in his fingers.

“This isn’t a normal bullet.” Argent answered, then pulled out his pocket knife, and used the blade as a lever to pull off the bottom end of the bullet. Once he had done that, he turned the bullet around and a small pile of what looked like purple dust landed on the palm of his hand.

“Wait, is that,” The Sheriff started, not exactly sure what it was that was in Argent’s hand, though he had a fairly good idea.

“Wolfsbane.” Argent confirmed before looking over at Malia with a somewhat concerned expression as he asked, “You weren’t hit, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t. I would’ve been if Scott hadn’t,” Malia suddenly stopped as a look of horror came upon her face. She would’ve been shot, her mother was pointing the gun at her, but her Alpha jumped in front the gun, and had taken the bullet for her. He had been shot. More than once.

“Scott.” Malia muttered the teenager’s name as she turned to look over at Stiles and Derek, who were still standing near her, and watched the realization dawn on both of them.

“AAHHH!” Everyone immediately turned around at the sound of Lydia’s loud scream coming from inside the building. The werewolves, werecoyote, kitsune, and human all rushed over to see what was going on, finding Lydia standing near the doorway, looking at a figure on the floor. Their blood completely froze at the sight because the figure on the floor, laying on his stomach was Scott, and he was not moving at all.

“Oh my G*d.” Ethan muttered, his brain slow to process what was happening. Beside him, Lydia’s shaking legs gave out but before she could fall to the floor, Jackson, who was on Lydia’s other side, wrapped his arms around her, holding her up. Stiles, Kira, and Derek on the other hand, rushed over to the Alpha, leaving the others standing by the door.

“Scott!” Stiles yelled as he slid to his knees beside his best friend. He then pulled Scott over onto his back, but when he saw that the fellow teenager was unconscious, he started shaking his friend and starting demanding, “Scott, open your eyes! Look at me!”

The injured Alpha gave a low, pain-filled moaned as he felt someone shaking him, aggravating the slashes and bullet wounds he had gotten during the fight. He then heard someone yelling, ordering him to wake up. Very slowly, Scott forced his eyelids to part, and saw the blurry form of Stiles looking down at him.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.” Stiles said, giving his friend a small smile when he saw that Scott was awake. Scott though, looked around the room and saw Kira and Derek also on their knees beside him while the other members of the pack were slowly coming closer to him as well. Their presence though caused a mix of emotions in the young Alpha.

On one hand, he didn’t want them there, he didn’t want them to see him die. They had already seen enough people die without adding his name to that list. There was only so much pain, horror, and helplessness one can feel before they break. On the other hand, Scott was glad they were there. He was alone when he died before. Well, Mason was there, as was Theo, but since one was knocked out and the other was the person who killed him, Scott didn’t count them. When he died in the library, that was the loneliest he had felt in his life. At least this time, he wasn’t alone.

“Stay with me Scotty, you’re going to be fine, you’re gonna be fine.” Stiles rambled quickly, moving his friend’s shirt to try and find the wounds and started pushing down on them to stop the bleeding. Lydia, who had broken out of Jackson’s hold, came to crouch down beside him, immediately started to do the same. Scott however, barely heard Stiles, and didn’t even feel his and Lydia’s hands on his torso.

“She, she was right.” Scott whispered, his voice barely audible. It was enough though that Derek, Kira, Stiles, Lydia and the rest of the pack that was standing around the four that surrounded their leader lying on the floor, heard him.

“Who was right? Right about what?” Stiles asked, trying to keep Scott talking so that he would stay awake.

“It, it, doesn’t, doesn’t hurt.” Stiles immediately froze, as did Derek and Lydia and Kira while Isaac gave a small gasp as they all realized what and who Scott was talking about.

Only Isaac and Kira were there to hear Allison’s last words, but Derek, Lydia, and Stiles had heard about it a couple of weeks after they finally destroyed the Nogitsune. Stiles had a hard time sleeping as well as coming to terms with what the evil spirit did while controlling him and wearing his face, but Scott did make sure to assure him that Allison didn’t feel any pain.

Scott also told Derek about it, before he had been kidnapped by Kate. He had gone to check on the young Alpha, knowing himself how painful it was to lose your first love. Scott then told him how he felt he failed her because he couldn’t take her pain and save her. All Derek could do to comfort him was to assure him that he did what he could, that he would recover, and that at least she wasn’t in pain when she passed.

It was Kira who told Lydia. She had been feeling just as guilty as Stiles and Scott did over their friend’s death, as the only reason Allison was there was to save her from the Nogitsune. Kira told her to assure her just like Scott had assured Stiles that Allison wasn’t in pain when she died. It helped slightly, but not as much as her best friend still living would have.

“No, no, no Scott. You stay with us. You stay with me, okay?” Stiles begged, moving his hands from Scott’s chest to place them on his best friend’s cheeks, trying to make sure that Scott was looking at him. Derek also moved his hands, but to grab Scott’s arm instead and tried to suck the pain out of the werewolf’s body. It only took a second for Derek to realize that Scott wasn’t just trying to be strong for them. He really wasn’t in any pain.

“Scott, I know you aren’t feeling any pain right now, but you are not okay. You need to stay awake while we get you to Deaton.” Derek ordered the teenager. Scott though, shook his head very slightly. He might not have been feeling the pain of the bullets, wolfsbane, or the gashes on his chest from Theo’s claws weeks earlier, but he knew he was fading. He had felt it once before, though it happened a lot faster last time.

“Promise me, that you guys, you will stick together, all of you. You’re all pack, you need to stay together. Promise me.” Scott pleaded weakly, slowly lifting his arm to grab one of Stiles’s hand.

“Scott,” Stiles’s voice cracked as he grabbed the hand that was holding his wrist, tears starting to slip out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

“Promise me.” Scott repeated. Stiles looked up at the pack of werewolves, were-coyote, kitsune, banshee, and whatever the heck Jackson was. All of them were on the verge of tears, but they all gave a small nod, agreeing to what was very possibly their Alpha’s last request. Stiles then looked back down at his best friend.

“We promise.” Stiles said for the pack. Hearing that, Scott gave him a small smile before he finally let the darkness he had been fighting for so long finally claim him.


	22. Don't Leave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used in this chapter is Hold On by Chord Overstreet. I really love that song and I feel if this actually was an episode of the show, this would be the song in the background. Hope you guys like this chapter.

_A long endless highway, you're silent beside me, driving a nightmare I can't escape from, helplessly praying, the light isn't fading, hiding the shock and the chill in my bones_

“Stay with me Scotty. Please just stay with me.” Stiles begged the unconscious figure who was lying across the back seat of Derek’s black Camaro, head on Stiles’s lap.

The second they realized that Scott had passed out, Derek immediately ordered Isaac to call Deaton and have him meet them at the animal clinic while he picked up the injured Alpha and carried him to his ca. Once they reached his car, Stiles gave the keys to his jeep to Lydia and crawled into the backseat, helping Derek place Scott across the seat. Kira came in next, sitting on the floor, placing her hands over her boyfriend’s injuries and pushing down hard in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Once they were in the car, Isaac got into the passenger seat while Derek got behind the wheel and immediately started speeding in the direction of the animal clinic.

There were no words to describe how terrified Stiles was, sitting in the backseat with his best friend unconscious and dying in his lap. Even though he had been fighting with Scott for the last few weeks, he knew that he was being that he was being unfair and because of that, he had completely blind to what was going on with the werewolf. He ignored the winces of pain that Scott tried to hide and believed that the sad, almost depressed look in his eyes were because of guilt for trusting Theo. He didn’t see how much Scott really was hurting with having his friends practically abandon him and that he was still injured. And now, his best friend was dying, again, and Stiles wasn’t sure if he’d ever get a chance to tell him how sorry he was for everything he said and did.

“He’s bleeding so much.” Kira stated. Scott’s torn shirt and jacket was soaked with his blood and despite her attempts to stop it, the blood was running through her fingers, covering her hands.

“Derek! Go faster!” Stiles shouted when he heard what Kira said, glancing up at the back of Derek’s head for a brief second before looking back down at Scott.

The older werewolf pushed the gas pedal all the way down to the floor of the car, not even caring how dangerously fast he was already going. All he could think of was getting the young Alpha to the animal clinic as possible. It was a good thing that is was nearly one in the morning during the middle of the week. The roads were completely deserted.

While Derek focused on driving, Isaac was half turned in his seat so he could keep his eyes on Scott. His friend had become much paler in the minutes since they got into the car, his lips turning a dark blue colour that terrified the blonde werewolf. He focused his hearing on the Alpha’s breathing and heartbeat.

When he realized that Scott’s heart was barely beating and that he could only just make out his breathing, Isaac looked over at Derek. The other werewolf only glanced him from the corner of his eye, but it was all he needed to see to know that Derek already knew that Scott was getting weaker. Isaac again turned to look back at the injured Alpha, easily hearing Stiles’s pleads to his best friend.

“Just stay with us Scott. Stay with me. You’re going to be okay, just stay with me.”

Suddenly, the car made an extremely sharp turn as Derek turned into the animal clinic parking lot, slamming his foot on the brakes before putting the car in park. Derek and Isaac both immediately got out to help get Scott out. The two werewolves didn’t even close the car doors, all of the focus on their injured and dying Alpha. Isaac helped Kira get out on one side while Stiles helped Derek pull Scott off his lap. Once Derek had Scott in his arms, the group rushed into the building.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

_They took you away on a table, I pace back and forth as you lay still, they pull you in to feel your heartbeat, can you hear me screaming, "please don't leave me"_

“Lay him down on the table, now!” Deaton yelled as they entered the clinic. Derek gently but quickly did as the vet ordered, laying Scott on the metal table while Deaton gave more orders.

“Isaac, Stiles, get his shirt off. Kira, come help me with these.” Kira rushed over to help the vet and Isaac and Stiles ripped off Scott’s shirt so Deaton could see and fix the werewolf’s injuries. Since the fabric was filled with so many holes and rips, it wasn’t hard getting it off.

With Scott now lying shirtless and bleeding under the fluorescent lighting, he looked ten times worse. His skin was a ghostly white, his veins around the bullet wounds turning an inky black colour. The blood was bright red against Scott’s pale skin before it stated turning black due to the wolfsbane running through his body.

As Deaton, with Kira’s help, got out all the medical supplies he needed and got them ready, the rest pf the pack arrived, having followed them in their own cars. The room was so filled that the vet had to push through some of them to get to Scott.

Deaton understood of course. Their Alpha was injured and dying, their protective instincts were going into overdrive, but he needed room so he could save the teenage leader. Luckily, they seemed to realize this because Jackson, Cora, and Ethan went into the waiting room, though they stood by the door so they could see what was going on. Isaac, Liam, Lydia, and Malia moved to stand against the wall, leaving only Stiles, Kira, and Derek surrounding Scott.

Within minutes, Deaton had an IV injected into the back of Scott’s hand attached to a bag filled with liquid that was a light purple. It was the fluid that would hopefully get the wolfsbane out of the werewolf’s system. While burning the wolfsbane was faster and arguably more effective, it was too far in his system to just burn some more wolfsbane and force into his wounds to burn it out. Not to mention, Isaac had told him how Scott wasn’t in any pain whatsoever despite the extensive injuries he had received, the vet knew it was because his body was in so much shock because of the pain he was in. Deaton doubted that Scott’s could handle the additional pain of him cauterizing the bloody gashes and bullet wounds.

As Deaton placed an oxygen mask over Scott’s nose and mouth to help him breathe better, he heard Stiles’s scared voice ask, “Is he going to be okay? You can save him right?”

“I don’t know for sure yet, but I promise that I’ll do everything I can to keep him alive.” Deaton promised. Stiles still looked completely terrified, but didn’t say anything as he looked back at Scott’s lax face. Deaton then started cleaning the various injuries over the werewolf’s body and stitching them up to stop the bleeding and help them heal.

By the time Deaton had pulled all the bullets out of Scott’s body and closed the wounds, there had still been no response or movement from the Alpha whatsoever. While it wasn’t very surprising to the vet, it definitely didn’t help the fear in the older man who saw the teenager almost as his son. The others in the room were even more terrified by the lack response from Scott.

Stiles was barely able to keep from freaking out as his eyes fully processed just how badly his best friend was hurt, his gaze constantly being drawn to the wounds on Scott’s chest. It was the first time he had seen the injuries that Theo caused, the injuries that killed his best friend. It was awful.

There were four, long, gashes right over his heart and another smaller one a few inches away from than the others. Though it was no longer bleeding anymore, and was weeks old, it looked as if it just happened, and looked so deep that Stiles wondered if he looked closely, he would see Scott’s heart beating. If it was still beating that is.

“He’s okay now, right? He’s going to be okay?” Stiles practically begged the vet for assurance. From the look on Deaton’s face though, the teenager knew he had none to give.

“I don’t know. He should be healing by now, but he’s not. We might just need to wait and see.” Deaton replied, watch Scott anxiously for any sign that his body was starting to heal.

“We can’t just sit here and wait for him to die!” Stiles yelled, furious at the knowledge that there was apparently nothing more they could do to save his best friend.

“Stiles,” Derek called out with a warning tone. Though he understood the teenager’s anger, knew that it was coming from the fear that they still might lose Scott despite Deaton’s efforts, getting mad at the vet wasn’t going to do anything except make the situation worse. Stiles turned his head, looking like he wanted to argue, but seeing the expression on the older werewolf’s face, he dropped it and went back to watching Scott worriedly.

The next few minutes passed with an intense silence. They were all too nervous and worried to say anything. Instead, everyone in the room waited and watched for any movement, any sign that their friend, their leader was going to be okay.

Stiles, who was standing on Scott’s left side near his head, put his hand on his best friend’s shoulder in an act of comfort as well as wondering if it would help rouse him. It didn’t. Kira stood directly across from him on Scott’s right, her hand stroking her boyfriend’s black hair away from his face, but his eyes remained closed. Derek, who was standing beside the kitsune, kept his eyes on Scott’s right arm which he was holding tightly in both hands, only occasionally glancing up over at the teenager’s face.

Deaton was about to grab his needle and thread, thinking that maybe Scott would be able to heal better and faster if he stitched up the rest of the injuries, as the vet thought the werewolf would’ve normally started healing by now. Before he could though, Derek stopped him.

“Wait, something’s happening.” Derek informed everyone, who know all looked up at the former Alpha as Deaton went over to Derek, just in time to see the familiar black lines cover the man’s hands and travel up his arms a little before they completely disappeared.

“He’s in pain.” Deaton stated with mild surprise.

“Is that a good thing or bad thing?” Kira asked. The way werewolves heal was still something she didn’t fully understand as there sometimes other variables that could affect their healing.

“A good thing, I think. If he is in pain, his healing abilities should kick in.” Deaton replied, keeping his eyes on Scott who, despite the fact that he was starting to feel pain, still hadn’t moved at all. Derek must’ve taken it all when he sensed it in the young werewolf.

“It’s coming back. A lot stronger this time.” Derek revealed, glancing up at the vet for a moment before looking back at Scott. The worried tone in Derek’s voice caused everyone’s pulse to pick up as their own worry increased.

“That’s good though, right? It means he’ll heal faster, doesn’t it?” Stiles questioned eagerly, needing to know that his best friend was to be okay.

“It should, unless he’s in too much pain. Then it could overwhelm him, which could kill him.” Deaton answered. Stiles thought for a moment then looked over at Derek.

“Derek, you’ll be able to help him if that happens, right?” Stiles checked with the older werewolf, who glanced over at him long enough to give the human teenager a nod before looking back at Scott.

It didn’t take long before everyone who was still in the room to watch Derek take more pain from their injured Alpha. Derek took more this time than the first time, the black veins staying longer and his face scrunching up a little in pain. Only a minute after the black veins disappeared though, they came right back as Derek took more of Scott’s pain. This time however, he didn’t stop, he couldn’t stop.

Every bit of pain that the man took from the teenager came right back within seconds of is being taken. As the medications Deaton had given him and the stitches finally started to force Scott’s body to heal itself, the pain that he should’ve been feeling started to come back all at once. Derek did his best to keep it from overwhelming Scott, but he couldn’t take anymore as he finally let go of the teenage werewolf’s arm with a pain-filled gasp, stumbling backwards.

“Derek! Are you okay?” Cora asked as she rushed back into the room to her big brother’s side, putting her hands on his shoulder and back to keep him from falling on the floor. On Derek’s other side was Isaac, who had also come forward when he saw his former Alpha stumble.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Derek answered his sister, then looked over at Deaton and said, “It’s hitting him all at once.”

A fearful expression came upon Deaton’s face, but before he could say anything, Isaac stepped forward to the table and put his hand on Scott’s arm as he said, “I got it.”

“Wait.” All heads turned to stare at Deaton in shock when he said that, but he ignored them as he continued, “All of you, do it all at once.” 

“What? Why?” Liam questioned, finally finding his voice after watching everything that was happening around him in a terrified silence.

“An Alpha has the ability to completely heal someone from a life-threatening injury by taking their pain.” Deaton started to explain.

“But they lose their Alpha status doing that.” Derek interrupted the pack’s emissary, remembering that saving Cora’s life by taking her pain made him a beta again.

“Yes, that’s how they survive taking that much pain without dying. A beta or omega would die if they took that much. But a bunch of betas at once could heal the person while dispersing the pain so it won’t greatly affect them.” Deaton finished.

“So if we all take his pain at once, Scott will heal? He’ll be okay?” Isaac asked for confirmation.

“He should.” Deaton replied. Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds, processing what they had just been told.

“It’s worth a try.” Malia stated, stepping forward to stand by Scott’s leg, putting her hand on the limb. All the other werewolves also came forward, completely surrounding Scott while Stiles and Kira reluctantly backed away to give them room. It was then Stiles noticed that Liam still hadn’t moved.

Seeing Stiles staring at him, Liam said, “I’m not good at taking pain. I’ve only done it once, and it was by accident.”

Lydia then went over to the young werewolf they all saw as their little brother and as she put her hand on his shoulder, she whispered, “You can do it Liam, I know you can.”

Liam didn’t look at the banshee, he kept his eyes on Scott instead. For the last few weeks, he had been torn between feeling angry at his Alpha for letting Hayden die, and feeling guilty for trying to kill him.

And when it was revealed that Scott had actually died, that Theo had actually killed him after Liam had just beaten him senseless and left to go to Hayden, the guilt nearly overwhelmed him. All he wanted was to make things right with Scott, to help him, to make up for what he did and how he acted. Now he had his chance, but all he could think about was, what if he failed again.

“Liam, please. He needs all the help he can get.” Lydia pleaded. Even though the urge to scream Scott’s name at the top of her lungs had gone down a little, it was still there and was beginning to get stronger with every minute that passed.

Though Liam still looked very unsure of himself, he walked over to the table and placed his hands on his Alpha’s shoulder. He still had no idea if he could take the senior’s pain, but he had to try. Better to try and fail then not to try and all and be left wondering if you could’ve succeeded. Liam would prefer to skip the failing and actually succeed instead if he could however.

Seeing that all the werewolves were now surrounding Scott, ready to try healing him, Deaton warned, “If you guys at all feel like you can’t take anymore, let go immediately. The last thing we need or want is having someone taking too much and dying.”

“Got it.” Derek said for the supernatural creatures before looking over at them, asking, “You guys ready?”

When they all nodded, the oldest werewolf in the room said, “Okay, let’s do this.”

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

_Scott was back in the forest, but it was way different than it was before. Normally the place was dark at night, which was part of the reason he knew something was wrong when he woke up to find himself in the woods after Theo killed him, when he was briefly reunited with Allison. The forest was brighter than it should’ve been._

_This time however, was far different. Everything was somewhat bright, like the sun was shining white through the trees, though the trees and ground were completely black despite the light, and was constantly shifting, never staying still. Despite that though, it was still recognizable enough for him to know where he was, and he started walking._

_Soon, he was approaching the edge of the treeline where the cliff that overlooked the city of Beacon Hills. It was getting harder to see though, as everything seemed to be getting brighter and brighter with every step he took. But Scott didn’t stop, he just kept moving because he could see the silhouette of the person waiting for him against the bright light. If anything, he started walking faster._

_Suddenly, Scott felt a tugging in his chest and he stopped, looking down to see if he could find out what it was. He didn’t see anything though, and soon enough, it was gone. So, the werewolf continued walking towards Allison, who was still waiting for him at their secret meeting place. He only got an few steps closer before he felt the tugging again, this time, slightly stronger than it was the first time._

_Again, Scott looked down at his chest, not sure what he would find that was causing the stranger, pulling, feeling. However, just like before, there was nothing there. There was something familiar about it though. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but Derek’s face suddenly came to his mind. Was there something wrong with Derek? Had something happened to him?_

_Lifting his head back up to look at Allison, he saw that the light behind her was getting brighter. Getting the sense that he had to hurry to get to her, Scott resumed his trek to Allison, moving faster than he was before. He got much further towards the cliff than he did last time when the tugging again appeared, but this time, it was at least ten times stronger. It pulled on him so hard that he almost fell backwards, but the werewolf managed to grab a tree branch to keep himself from falling._

_Before, the strange tugging in his chest felt like a piece of rope was wrapped around his chest that was pulling him in the opposite direction he wanted to go. Now it felt like solid steel and there were ten of them instead of one. No, there were seven. Seven of them, not ten. Scott waited for a few seconds, positive that the pulling would disappear like it did before, but it didn’t. Instead, it got stronger with every second that passed. Whoever was on the other end of the invisible, steel-like rope wasn’t letting go of him. Wait, who was pulling him back?_

_Slowly, Scott brought up the hand that wasn’t still holding onto the tree branch and placed it on his chest, just beside the gashes that were left when Theo killed him. The minute his fingers touched his chest, seven faces flashed in his mind, Derek, Isaac, Liam, Malia, Cora, Jackson, and Ethan. Then, the werewolf heard a faint voice, Stiles’s faint voice. He couldn’t make out the exact words, but did make out the word ‘stay’, and could tell that his best friend was begging him._

_It was then that all the pieces clicked. He really was dying and his friends, his pack, was trying to save him. He already knew he was dying, he could feel it. But he didn’t think that they would try and save him. After all, couldn’t they see that their lives would be better without him? Without following his desire, his need to protect and save everyone he can? They had lost so much because of him. And yet, he could feel them trying with all their might to save him._

_Scott looked back up at Allison, getting a clear look at her beautiful face. She didn’t seem to be encouraging him to continue trying to get closer to her. Nor did she seem upset that he was no longer moving. Instead, there was a look of understanding of her face, as though she had already came to the conclusion that he had. That despite as tired as he was of all the fighting and as much as he wanted to be with her, he couldn’t just leave their friends._

_Allison then gave him a small nod, confirming that she understood and wanted him to go back. Scott gave her a small smile, then let go of the tree branch. He immediately started flying backwards, but made no attempt to stop. Instead, he let his pack pull him away from the light and back into the empty darkness._

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

_Hold on, I still want you, come back, I still need you, let me take your hand, I'll make it right, I swear to love you all my life, hold on, I still need you_

Stiles, Lydia, Kira, and Deaton watched the werewolves closely, waiting anxiously for any sign that Deaton’s theory was indeed working. The werewolves in the pack had only started taking Scott’s pain about a minute ago, but it felt like forever. And even though it was a minute, the fact that they were still taking his pain told the bystanders just how much pain their Alpha was in.

Normally, whenever a werewolf would take someone’s pain, it would only take a few seconds before they either took it all, or reached the maximum amount they could take. The fact that Liam, Derek, Isaac, Cora, Malia, Ethan, and Jackson were still holding on to Scott’s arms and legs with the veins in their own hands and arms still black was worrying enough, but add in the fact that Scott still hadn’t reacted made it that much worse. Deaton was about to intervene, worried that the werewolves were taking too much when Scott suddenly arched his back and they heard him taking a deep breath through the oxygen mask still on his face.

Deaton, Stiles, Kira, and Lydia immediately rushed to the table where Scott was lying, the werewolves having let go and moved out of the way since they had finally reached their limit. They all quickly saw that Scott wasn’t awake at all, and though that still worried them a little, they saw that the wounds on his chest were finally starting to heal. The looked over at Deaton, and seeing the relieved expression on the vet’s face, they knew that everything was okay. Scott was going to be okay.


	23. Every Storm Runs Outta Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is the title of the song Every Storm Runs Outta Rain by Gary Allen if you guys want to check it out. It’s really good. There’s also a line from the song at the end of the chapter.

Scott wasn’t sure how long he floated in the darkness. For all he knew, it could’ve been as little as a few minutes or as long as a few weeks. All he did know was that it was quiet, peaceful, and completely pain-free. He wasn’t sure he ever wanted to leave. He had been wanting peace for so long. But if he had learned anything in his life, was that you rarely ever get what you wanted.

Awareness came slowly to the teenager. At first, it was something cold and hard underneath his body. Then, it was the smell, like cleaning and medical supplies. If he had enough energy, he would’ve wrinkled his nose, it was so strong. After that, it was the quiet sounds of somebody moving around the room, or, wherever he was. Once he felt like he actually could move, he opened his eyes.

Immediately, bright, fluorescent lights shone right into his eyes and nearly blinded him, or so it felt like. Scott instinctively closed his eyes and slowly turned his head to the so that the next time he opened his eyes, the light wouldn’t be shining directly in them. However, the small movement of turning his head to the side seemed to wake up every sore and pain-filled cell in his body, causing a ripple of agony to run through his body. Scott barely bit back a groan and though he succeeded, he did end up catching someone’s attention.

“Scott? Are you awake?” The werewolf barely heard Deaton ask, his voice a lot quieter then it normally was. Slowly, Scott again opened his eyes, this time, only seeing the vet’s concerned face. When Deaton saw that the young Alpha was indeed awake, he gave him a relieved smile.

“Good to see you conscious. You had us all worried.” Deaton told him, lifting his hand to run it over Scott’s head in a fatherly wat. The teenager though, focused on the word ‘us’, then turned his head to look to see who else was in the room. Scott didn’t get that far though. Moving his head again caused another wave of pain to shoot through him, but this time, he couldn’t hold back the groan. Apparently, that was all it took for those in the room to jump up and rush to his side.

“Scott, you’re awake.” Stiles stated with a relieved tone that matched his expression once he reached his best friend’s side, leaning over him. Scott gave him a small smile, but before he could anything, Derek, who had also woken up and came over to the injured werewolf when Scott groaned, spoke first.

“You feeling alright?” The older werewolf asked, concern laced in his voice. Scott managed to give him a small nod, managing to bite back the groan this time as the ache in his neck and head intensified.

Derek however, frowned, clearly not convinced at all. Before Scott could say or do anything, Derek reached forward and put his hand on the teenager’s shoulder. Almost instantly, the pain that felt present in almost every inch of the young Alpha’s body receded, completely fading into the background until it was no more than a dull ache.

“Better?” Derek wonder after he dropped his hand from Scott’s shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks.” Scott answered with a slight croak. His mouth and throat were a little dry, probably from lack of water since he had no idea how long he had been out nor could he really remember the last time he had something to drink. Luckily, Deaton seemed to realize that because a cup suddenly appeared in front of him. Scott managed to lift hi head and drink a few sips before he let his head fall back onto the table.

“You sure scared Scotty. We thought we were going to lose you.” Stiles said after the Alpha laid his head back on the metal table.

“You almost did.” Scott whispered, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t see the expressions on Derek’s and Stiles’s faces.

Hearing the teenager admit that caused both Stiles and Derek to look at each other worriedly. There was something so sad and dejected in Scott’s voice that greatly Stiles as he tried to figure out why. Derek however, had a fairly good idea what was going on with the young Alpha since Scott had told him what was going with him almost a week earlier.

“Scott?” The sound of Kira’s voice drew everyone’s attention towards the other end of the room. Quickly realizing that her boy friend was awake, the kitsune rushed to his side as Derek moved out of the way.

Once Kira reached him, she grasped the teenager’s hand tightly in both of her smaller ones, a sweet and a relieved smile on her face. Scott smiled back as he whispered, “Hi.”

“Hi.” Kira replied back, her voice almost as quiet as her breathing. Scott didn’t say anything else, completely content to just stare at his girlfriend’s beautiful eyes and smile. He never got tired of seeing the light the fox always seemed to carry with her. The small moment between the two was broken however, as another person who was in the room who Scott had not seen yet spoke up.

“Scott? Are you okay?” The high school senior again lifted his head, which was easier this time, to see Liam slowly walking towards him, a concerned expression on his face just like the others in the room.

“I’m alright Liam.” Scott assured his beta. Liam didn’t look convinced, but didn’t say anything while Scott started to look around the room to see if there was anyone else around.

“The others were here, but Lydia had to go home, Malia had to go to the police station to give her statement about what happened with her mother, Isaac and Cora went with her. Jackson and Ethan went to check on the chimeras. And your Mom is asleep on the couch in the waiting room.” Stiles explained when he saw Scott looking around.

“So, am I good Doc?” Scott then asked Deaton, hoping that the vet would say he was alright and could go home. A metal table really wasn’t as comfortable as his bed.

“You’re going to be very sore for the next few days, so you’ll have to take it easy, but you will be just fine.” Deaton informed his patient with a smile. With that being said, the vet also added that it would probably be more comfortable for Scott to finish healing at home. Scott completely agreed with him, and as he sat up with some help from Stiles, Derek handed him a sweater. The teenager didn’t even notice that he was wearing a shirt at all. After he got the sweater on, he got to his feet and headed out to Stiles’s Jeep with his best friend’s help.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

“Easy, easy. I got ya Scotty, just take it easy.” Stiles said for what felt like the millionth time to his best friend as he helped him to his room. Scott knew and understood that Stiles was just worried about him, but it was starting to get on his nerves a bit. It made him kind of wish that Kira or Derek were with them.

Derek though left to check on Malia and Cora after Stiles assured him that he would get Scott him safely while Kira had gotten a call from her Mom that was really important. She took Liam home as well since his parents were coming back from their trip and would be worried if he wasn’t home when they got there. Scott’s Mom was home as well, having followed the Jeep in her car from the vet’s but was downstairs making breakfast since Scott also couldn’t really remember the last time he ate.

“Stiles, if you say ‘easy’ one more time, I might actually hit you.” Scott told him with a light-hearted tone and smile so Stiles knew he wasn’t serious, or at least, not completely.

“Sorry.” Stiles apologized sheepishly, realizing that he was probably going a little overboard, but he couldn’t help it. He had watched his best friend almost die last night. The worry, fear, as well as the guilt for how he had been treating Scott for the last few weeks was eating him up, and he had to make sure that his best friend was okay, and he had to make it up to him.

Slowly and carefully, Stiles led Scott into his bedroom with his arm around the fellow teenager’s waist while the werewolf had his arm around Stiles’s shoulders. Trying his best to be as gentle as he could, Stiles helped Scott sit down on the bed. As Scott kicked off his shoes, Stiles moved to the front of the bed and rearranged the pillows so that his friend would be as comfortable as possible.

It was then that Scott reached over and grabbed Stiles’s arm and gently pulled him towards the bed. Stiles stopped what he was doing and sat down on the mattress beside his friend who then let go of his arm.

“What’s wrong Stiles?” Scott asked after waiting a minute for the other teenager to say something only to receive silence from him.

“You’re seriously asking that?” Stiles questioned, looking over at his friend with an incredulous expression. Scott didn’t say anything though, he just waited for the human to answer his question.

“Theo killed you, and you didn’t say anything. And despite the fact you were still hurt because you weren’t healing like you’re supposed to, you still ran head first into danger and almost died.” Stiles ranted angrily. Scott flinched slightly at the harshness of his friend’s tone, then lowered his head.

Seeing the werewolf’s reaction to his voice and words, guilt immediately swelled up in his stomach and he quickly apologized, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Scott mumbled, unsure of what to say. It was starting to seem like everything he did was wrong and making people upset.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Theo killed you?” Stiles wondered, unable to hide the hurt he felt that his best friend would keep something that big a secret from him. A small voice in his head was quick to remind him about how he also kept a very big secret, one that nearly destroyed their friendship, but Stiles ignored it. They weren’t talking about him, they were talked about Scott.

“Scott, answer me. Why didn’t you say anything?” Stiles repeated his question when the werewolf stayed quiet.

“There were a few reasons actually.” The Alpha responded, turning his head towards Stiles, though he kept it down so he wouldn’t meet his friend’s eyes.

“And they were?” Stiles pushed, completely unwilling to let Scott push him away. He was feeling enough guilt and regret for doing the same thing over the last few weeks. If he hadn’t, maybe the werewolf would’ve told him what Theo did. Now that he did know though, he was determined to know why Scott kept his death a secret.

“One, I felt embarrassed that not only did make such a terrible mistake in trusting Theo, I trusted him enough for him to stab me in the back. Or front technically.” Scott gave on of his reasons before continuing, “Two, I just didn’t want to talk about it, and I was pretty sure that if you knew, you’d make me.”

“You’re right about that.” Stiles quickly agreed, then asked, “Any other reasons?”

“You were mad at me. You had every right to be, but you were so furious, I didn’t think you’d really care.” Scott quietly admitted.

Stiles immediately felt the need to object to his friend’s line of thinking, but found he wasn’t sure if he could. Scot was right, he was downright furious at the werewolf after his Dad was attacked, but if Scott had told him when it happened, would he have been able to see past his own hurt and anger to see how his best friend was doing? As Stiles thought about it for a minute, he was fairly sure he had his answer, and it wasn’t the one he wanted.

Stiles tried to figure out how to respond to that particular reason, but he then saw a strange look on Scott’s. So he asked, “Is there another reason?”

Scott sighed, then nodded. Stiles waited for Scott to tell him what it was, but when nearly three full minutes passed, the human knew that odds were that whatever this reason was, it had to be the main one. Though Stiles wanted to push the werewolf to tell him, he could see that Scott didn’t want to talk about it and pushing could make it harder for him to open up. So, he continued to wait patiently and silently.

“I didn’t want you to know, because there was the chance you’d constantly ask if I was okay and that whenever I would tell you that I was fine, you’d see right through me and eventually demand that I tell you what’s really going on.” Scott finally told him after at least five minutes had passed.

“And what is really going on?” Stiles wondered in a gentle tone.

“I saw Allison when, when I died.” Scott revealed, lowering his head a little more as he did so.

Stiles couldn’t hide the shock from his face when he heard that. Though he was sure what he was expecting Scott to say, it sure wasn’t that. It did explain why his friend didn’t really want to talk about Theo killing him. But just liked before, Stiles knew that there was still something that Scott was holding back, but again, he waited patiently for the werewolf to tell him.

“When I, died, there was a part of me that didn’t want to come back.” Scott admitted, feeling tears start to fill his eyes, threatening to fall. Stiles completely froze at Scott’s revelation, his eyes widening in shock.

“It was so peaceful there, and there wasn’t any pain. It felt like there was this huge weight lifted off my chest and shoulders. There wasn’t any threat I had to deal with, not fighting whatsoever. Not feeling the need to look over my shoulder. And Allison,” Scott paused when he felt his voice about to break before finishing, “Allison was there.”

“Scotty.” When Scott heard Stiles’s quiet, sympathy-filled voice, he couldn’t stop a few a few tears from slipping out of his eyes. Seeing them, Stiles pulled the werewolf into his arms, not unlike how Derek did only a few days earlier.

The human soon felt his shoulder getting wet with Scott’s tears though the teenager hadn’t made a sound. Stiles tightened his hold as guilt welled up inside of his stomach. Not only was he still feeling guilty for how he had treated his best friend over the last few weeks, but he had stopped making sure he was okay, stopped looking for signs he wasn’t.

He didn’t at all think about the toll of being the leader of a pack, being the protector of Beacon Hills, had taken on the teenager. That was some pretty serious weight for anyone to carry. For a teenager who had enough to worry about with finishing high school and getting into college, that added weight could crush him. And from the looks of it, it was indeed starting to crush his best friend.

Stiles then remembered that day not long after his Dad was attacked, when they went after the chimera that had hurt the Sheriff, Stiles ended up leaving because he no longer wanted to fight. He felt like he was fighting an uphill battle and was tired of it. He had enough. But he didn’t even think about how Scott felt, no one asked if he was tired of fighting, if he wanted to stop. Stiles knew that even if the werewolf wanted to stop, he wouldn’t because he felt like it was his responsibility. But someone still should’ve, he should’ve, made sure he was okay.

“I’m sorry Scotty. I’m so sorry.” Stiles whispered with a heartbroken and guilt-ridden tone as he tightened his hold again on the werewolf. Once he said that though, Scott slowly pulled away so he could look at Stiles’s face.

“Sorry for what?” Scott wondered, brushing off the remaining tears from his cheeks with his hands.

“For being such a jerk. I kept blaming you for stuff that wasn’t your fault, said some really terrible and out of line things, didn’t even try to see things from your perspective or took into account how Theo lied to you too.” Stiles explained, lowering his gaze so he wouldn’t meet Scott’s eyes.

“You had every right to be upset. You thought I turned my back on you and your Dad was attacked.” Scott responded. He never felt like Stiles shouldn’t be angry. Considering his side of the story and everything that happened, the Alpha completely understood his best friend’s anger.

“Maybe, but I should’ve been angry at Theo, not you. Especially after you told me how Theo lied to you about what happened with Donovan.” Stiles replied. Scott didn’t say anything to that, not really disagreeing with Stiles and not really wanting to get into it anymore.

“The truth is, that, when Theo showed up, though I did have a strong instinct that something was really off with him, I, I was jealous.” Scott’s head shot up when he heard Stiles admit that, but he said nothing as his friend continued, “You and Theo, seemed to have a lot in common, you were quickly becoming friends, and he was a werewolf. I was, jealous at how close you two seemed to have become, and, I was scared that, that,”

Though Stiles wasn’t able to finish his sentence, Scott knew exactly what he was trying to say and knew what he had been scared of.

“Stiles, there is no way, and no one who could ever replace you.” Scott cut right to the heart of the matter, “Theo would’ve only been my friend, but you are my brother. Nothing and no one could ever, ever change that.”

“Even now, after everything?” Stiles wondered, his voice timid and scared as he slowly raised his head to look up at Scott. The werewolf immediately nodded and pulled Stiles into his arms again. Stiles instantly returned the embrace. Their hold on each other was tight at first, but as Scott’s exhaustion started to return, his arms loosened, slowly becoming limp. Feeling it, Stiles pulled back to see what was going on with the young Alpha.

“Scott? You okay?” Stiles asked worriedly, looking over his friend with a careful eye.

“I’m tired, really tired.” Scott answered. Stiles immediately caught the double meaning and wrapped his arms around Scott’s shoulders again, giving him a quick hug as he said, “I know Scotty, I know.”

“Come on, just lie down and get some sleep.” Stiles told the teenager as he released him from his embrace. Scott nodded, then kicked off his shoes before lying down on the bed as Stiles stood up. Scott then reached for the throw at the foot of his bed, but his best friend was way ahead of him, having already grabbed the thin blanket.

As he draped it over the still healing werewolf, Stiles said, “Get some sleep Scott, everything’s taken care of.”

Scott gave his friend a grateful smile before closing his eyes as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

The Alpha wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep this time, or what had woken him up from his dreamless sleep, but he felt a lot better than he did before. As he raised his head to see if Stiles was still in the room, he found that his friend was gone, but he was not alone. Liam was sitting in his desk chair beside him, his hand on Scott’s arm. It was then that the older teenager realized what was going on. Liam had taken some of his pain, and that was probably what woke him.

“Hey.” Scott said with a quiet, slightly hoarse voice. Liam jumped a little before looking up at the Alpha’s face, clearly not having realized that he was awake.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Liam immediately apologized.

“It’s okay Liam.” Scott replied with a smile. The younger teenager didn’t say anything else, he just ducked his head, as though he was ashamed. Growing a little worried over his beta, Scott pushed himself into a sitting position.

“What’s wrong?” The older teenager asked with a gentle tone once he was sitting upright.

“While you were out, Derek told me about, about what happened to him when he was a teenager. Told me about Paige.” That was all Scott needed to hear to know what was probably going through the blonde’s head. But Liam didn’t know that so he continued.

“I know now, that the reason you didn’t bite Hayden wasn’t just because it could’ve killed her, it was because if it was going to kill her, you didn’t want to put her through that, or me.”

Liam kept his head down the entire time he was talking, feeling too ashamed to look his Alpha in the eyes. A couple of hours after they had brought Scott to Deaton, when the majority of the pack dispersed, Derek told him about his first love, Paige, and how he was led to believe that if she became a werewolf, then they could be together forever. Despite the odds being in her favour, she ended up rejecting the bite, and it was killing her, slowly and painfully. So painful in fact, that Derek himself killed just to end it. Apparently, Derek told this to Scott, who said that he would never want anyone to go through that.

“Liam, can you grab that box from the desk and bring it here?” Scott asked. The beta was a little surprised by his Alpha’s sudden, random, request, but nodded and got off the chair and walked over to the desk. As Liam grabbed it, he peaked inside and saw that it was the same one from last night, the one that had the necklace and the pictures of that girl, Allison. He assumed that Stiles had moved it to the desk when he and Scott came to the house.

Once the blonde brought the box over to Scott, the older teenager took it from him and put it on his lap while Liam sat back down in the chair. For a moment, the two were silent as Scott rummaged through the box. He then pulled out a picture and handed it to Liam. Examining it, the younger teenager saw the picture was of two people on a bridge, a boy and a girl. Liam quickly recognized the girl as the same person in the other photos, Allison. It took him a little longer to realize though that the boy was Scott, when he was probably a few years younger.

“That’s Allison.” Scott said, his voice quieter then normal.

“You two were pretty close.” Liam deduced from the way Scott and Allison were looking at each other in the picture.

“Yeah. She was my first girlfriend, my first, everything actually. When the blonde heard the sadness in the dark-haired teenager’s tone, he looked up at him and saw that Scott was staring down at the box, the expression on his face a mix of grief and longing.

Liam wasn’t sure how to respond, but he didn’t have to as Scott continued, “I met her the day after Peter bit me. We started dating soon after, but we quickly ran into some problems.”

“Because you were a werewolf?” Liam wondered. Scott gave him a half-grin and nodded.

“That, and because her Dad was werewolf hunter Chris Argent.”

“What? Argent has a daughter?” Liam couldn’t hide his complete and total shock when he heard that.

“Had.” Scott quietly corrected the beta who then felt a different type of shock. Liam knew that something bad had happened considering to the way his Alpha reacted when Allison was brought up, but he didn’t consider the idea Scott’s first girlfriend was dead. Though the older teenager again had a depressed expression on his face, he continued.

“Once she knew I was a werewolf, we continued to have a few problems, the biggest being her parents forbidding us from dating. We ignored that rule. When her Mom found out we were still together, she tried to kill me. Derek saved me, but bite her Mom in the process. If a hunter gets bitten, they’re supposed to kill themselves before they turn, and that’s what she did.

“Gerard, Argent’s father and Allison’s grandfather took advantage of grief and tried to turn her into a killer. He failed, and we managed to deal with him, but we broke up. We needed some time apart for her to process and come to terms with everything and for me to get my school life back in order. Then I became an Alpha and she got together with Isaac.

“I was upset at first, but I wanted her to be happy, and if Isaac made her happy, then I would deal with it. Not long after that, I met Kira, and we were both happy, even though we weren’t together.”

“So, what went wrong?” Liam asked when Scott paused, again looing up from the picture to his leader.

“The Nogitsune.” Scott answered, still staring down at the box. Liam dimly remembered that word, that that was what they called the evil fox that had possessed Stiles, but that was all they told him. Guess he now knew why.

“He had kidnapped Lydia, and took control over these Japanese demons called the Oni. We were being overwhelmed and Allison was stabbed.”

Again, Scott stopped and Liam knew without being told what ultimately ended up happening. After the Alpha took a deep breath, he resumed the story.

“I caught her when she fell, tried to take her pain, but I couldn’t because she wasn’t in any. She died in my arms.” Scott finally finished, lifting his hand to wipe away the lone tear that had escaped his eyelid. Despite the other tears that were starting to flood his brown eyes, he looked up at his beta, staring straight into his blue eyes for the first time since he started talking about Allison.

“So, believe me when I tell you Liam that I knew that fear you had when you realized Hayden was dying, and I know how desperate you were to save her.”

Liam suddenly felt tears of his own welling up in his eyes due to his leader’s instance and compassionate gaze as well as his sincere and honest voice. As he rubbed his own eyes, Liam said, “I still shouldn’t have tried to kill you.”

“No.” Scott quickly agreed before adding, “but you’re not the first beta to try to kill his Alpha because he wanted something.”

Liam’s eyebrows shut up when he heard that, and he looked back over at Scott. Seeing the stunned expression on the blonde’s face, the older teenager smiled then said, “That’s a story for another time, but know this, I’m not upset with you, and I forgive you.”

Without warning, Liam got up and practically threw himself on his Alpha, hugging him tightly. Scott instinctively opened his arms to catch his beta before returning the embrace. Though his sore and still healing muscles protested Liam’s weight against him, Scott ignored it and held the younger teenager tighter, knowing that they both needed this.

A sudden knock on the door had the werewolves pulling apart as they looked to see who was there. To their surprise, they saw the entire pack standing in and around the doorway. Stiles, Lydia, Kira, Malia, Derek, Cora, Isaac, Ethan and Jackson. With a smile on his face, Scott raised his hand in a ‘come here’ motion. The group didn’t need any more of an invitation than that.

The pack came over to their Alpha, all taking their turns hugging him, telling him how happy they were that he was okay. With each embrace, Scott felt the ache in his chest become lighter and light until it was practically gone. Even though they had been working together to stop Theo and the Dread Doctors, and he had felt his connection to them as his betas become just as strong as it before Theo arrived, he wasn’t sure if it was real or not. Now, he was.

He knew that he and his friends were still going to have to have a long talk about what happened with Theo, and it was going to take some time for them to get past everything, but for now, Scott was just grateful that his pack was together again.

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

Later that evening, Scott was alone in his room, lying on his bed with his homework surrounding him. With everything going on, his schoolwork had been pushed to the back burner and with this being his senior year and his need for scholarships, he had to put his focus back on that. His pack had dispersed after a few hours, and his Mom then fussed over him until she had to go to work, leaving him alone in the house.

Or at least, he thought he was alone. The teenager’s focus was broken by a knock on his door. Scott looked up to see Isaac in the doorway. The other werewolf had reclaimed his old bedroom from when he lived with the McCall’s when he got back from France with the others. The blonde was most likely in his room which was why Scott didn’t know he was there.

“Hey.” The Alpha greeted, putting down his schoolwork and moving it to make a place for his beta.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Isaac asked, sitting down on the bed.

“A lot better, almost like I wasn’t hurt at all.” Scott replied. Isaac nodded, but didn’t say anything as sad expression came on his face.

Before Scott could ask what was wrong. Isaac pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to the other werewolf, saying, “You dropped this during the fight. Thought you’d want it back.”

Scott looked down to see what it was that Isaac had given him, and then completely understood the look on the blonde’s face when he recognized the necklace as the one he used to destroy the Beast. Allison’s necklace.

“Thanks.” Scott replied, fiddling with the chain with his fingers.

“I really miss her sometimes.” Isaac admitted quietly, looking down at the floor. Scott put the necklace down on his bedside table, then put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder.

“I do too.” Scott revealed, his voice just as quiet as the beta’s. For the moment, the two just sat in silence, both missing the girl who had meant so much to both of them.

Soon feeling a need to lighten the mood though, Scott turned to Isaac and said, “I’m actually feeling really hungry. Want to go get some Mexican food?”

“Dude,” Scott thought that maybe he was wrong with his attempt to cheer Isaac up when he heard the blonde say that, but then Isaac looked up at him with a smile before finishing, “I love Mexican.”

With a wide grin and light chuckle, the two stood up and headed downstairs and out of the house to get some dinner.

 _Every storm runs, runs outta rain, just like every dark night, turns into day, every heartache, will fade away just like ever storm runs, runs outta rain_ – **Gary Allen, _Every Storm Runs Outta Rain_**


	24. Fight 'til the End

A week later, Scott walked through the woods once again, the full moon shining down on him through the branches and leaves. After they had successfully defeated the Dread Doctors and Theo, things slowly started to go back to normal. Scott had fully healed from all of his injuries within two days, but was still being smothered a bit from his pack, but he didn’t mind it. He knew he had worried his friends, a lot, so he was willing to put up with it for a little while longer. If they didn’t stop soon though, then he would tell them too.

This was actually one of the few times he was actually alone since he woke up in the animal clinic. Stiles was with Lydia at the police station. The banshee was still trying to help Parrish understand his powers, and Stiles had to talk to his Dad about something. Malia was hanging out with Cora. The female werewolf and the werecoyote quickly bonded once they met, which didn’t surprise Scott at all, they both had similar personalities. Isaac was with Argent, making arrangements to head back to France.

Though the Alpha was a little upset that the first beta to join his pack was leaving again, he understood. It was still too much for Isaac to be in Beacon Hills, the place where both his parents and Allison died.

_“You’re packing.” Scott stated with surprise when he came into the guest room that used to be Isaac’s when he lived with them to see the blonde packing a bag. Isaac looked up at Scott for a moment before lowering his head back down as he nodded._

_“Yeah, got to get back to school after all.” Isaac said as he zipped up the bag._

_“I just, kind of hoped that maybe you’d stick around longer, or maybe even, move back.” Scott revealed. Though he hadn’t had a chance to spend that much time with his very first beta due to all the craziness, the time he had spent with him made him realize how much he actually missed the fellow teenager._

_“I thought about it but, Beacon Hills,” Isaac paused as he moved to sit down on the bed. After moment, he finished his sentence, “this town, was never really good to me. Hasn’t been good to any of us. I can’t help but feel like if I stay, I’m going to end up dead or something, you know?”_

_Scott instinctively nodded, somewhat understanding what Isaac was talking about. He couldn’t deny that there had been times he wanted to leave Beacon Hills, especially with this being his last year in high school, but he didn’t want to leave permanently, at least not yet. This was still his home after all. He really wished he could have a break from constantly looking over his shoulder and having to worry about there being any threats in his town and having to protect the entire town from the supernatural._

_“Why don’t you come with me?” Isaac suddenly asked, causing Scott’s eyes to widen in surprise. After a moment of thought, Scott walked over to his friend and sat down on the bed beside him._

_“Not going to lie, it’s a tempting offer, but I got to stay here. I need to finish school too and, someone’s got to keep this town safe.” Scott answered, but Isaac wasn’t really satisfied with that answer._

_“Why does it have to be you? This town hasn’t be good to you either. Why do you have to stay and protect it?” Isaac questioned, his voice a little harsh though it was unintentional._

_Taking a deep breath, Scott started to explain, “Because it’s kinda my fault all of this is happening in Beacon Hills. When Stiles, Allison, and I went under the water to find the Nemeton, we made Beacon Hills a beacon to the supernatural. Someone has to protect the town from them, and since I was one of the people who caused it, I should be doing my part in keeping the town safe._

_“Plus, my friends, my Mom, is here. If I left, or if I stopped trying to keep this town safe and something happens to them, something that I could’ve stopped, then, that’s on me. Or at least, I’d feel like that’s on me, and I don’t think I could live with that.”_

_“I can understand that, but don’t forget, that you have the right to do what you want to do, you have the right to be happy too.” Isaac then told him. Scott nodded, promising he would, along with promising that he’d at least think of going to visit him in Paris sometime, if and when he got a chance that it._

Isaac wasn’t the only one planning on heading back to France. Jackson and Ethan were with Tracy at the moment, as the kanima turned werewolf had decided to help the kanima chimera learn how to control her powers. Apparently, Jackson could still turn into a kanima if he wanted too, which both Scott and Stiles thought was awesome, yet kind of gross at the same time. Once they were sure that Tracy had a handle on her powers though, Jackson and Ethan would be heading back to France as well.

Kira however, had already left Beacon Hills yesterday to head back down to Mexico. About two days after the fight with Theo and the Dread Doctors, she came over to his house, and told him about her decision to go back to Shiprock, to the skinwalkers. She explained how she still wasn’t in control of the fox inside of her and that they could help. The werewolf wasn’t happy about it, but he understood the need to get control over your powers. He had the same need when he was first bitten. So, he drove her down to Shiprock himself, and dropped her off.

_“Are you sure about this?” Scott asked once they had reached the place where the skinwalkers were and had gotten out of the car._

_“Yes. I need to learn Scott, and they can help.”_ _Kira replied, looking down at the sand in an effort to escape her boyfriend’s eyes. Scott though crossed the small distance between them, put a hand under her chin, and gently lifted her head up so he could look at her._

_“How long is it going to take?” Scott then questioned, hoping that her answer was only a week, or at most a month. From the fallen and sorry expression on her face though, he knew he wasn’t going to get the answer he wanted._

_“However long it takes.” Kira answered sadly. Scott nodded, then lowered his head os his forehead was leaning against hers._

_“I love you.” The werewolf whispered._

_“I love you too.” The kitsune replied back. Scott moved the hand that was still under his girlfriend’s chin and brushed her black hair away from her face before moving it to cradle the back of her head and pulled her closer, kissing her passionately. Kira quickly kissed him back, both knowing that this might be their final kiss._

_Pulling apart due to the need for air, Scott said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but know, you will always have a place in my pack.”_

_“I know.” Kira responded. She then leaned forward and kissed him again. This kiss didn’t last as long as the last one did as Kira knew that if she didn’t start walking towards the skinwalkers now, she never would. Without looking at Scott, she turned away from him and started making her way towards the three woman. The werewolf though, stayed and watched her walk away until a small sand storm rose up and covered Kira and the skinwalkers. Within seconds, the sand was gone, and so was Kira and the skinwalkers._

Kira, Jackson, Ethan, and Isaac weren’t the only ones who were leaving Beacon Hills, unfortunately. Derek would be leaving soon with Cora and Braeden. Even though they had taken up their old residence in the loft, they weren’t staying in town for long. Scott knew that that was most likely the case, after all, Beacons Hills hasn’t been kind to Derek either, but that didn’t stop him from feeling disappointed and upset when he went to the older werewolf’s home to find that he had already packed his belongings.

_“So, you’re heading out too, huh?” Scott wondered as he entered the loft to see at least three large duffle bags by the door._

_“Yeah. Cora needs to get back to South America, and Braeden and I are going to stay with her for a while. At least, until we figure out what we are going to do next. Braeden’s already got some calls about jobs people want to hire us for.” Derek replied, coming down the stairs towards the teenager._

_“‘Us’. So you and Braeden are a mercenary team now?” Scott questioned, coming further into the loft, though he stayed a few feet away from his former Alpha._

_“Pays the bills.” Derek responded with a nonchalant tone, but he did give the teenager a small grin which caused Scott to smile as well. He was glad that Derek had Braeden and Cora, and that he was happy. If anyone deserved that, it was Derek._

_“Listen,” Scott started, the smile falling from his face as a more serious expression took its place, “I wanna say thank you, for coming when I called, for going so far as to go get Isaac, Jackson, and Ethan from France, for having my back, for everything really.”_

_Derek immediately crossed the distance between him and the teenager, coming to stand in front of him. He then asked, “Do you remember what I told you, the night of your first full moon?”_

_Scott looked a little confused at first before understanding dawned in his eyes and he said, “That we were brothers now.”_

_“That’s right, and that hasn’t changed. It never will.” Derek told him. Scott nodded, starting to feel more than a little emotional by what his werewolf mentor said. The Alpha then suddenly wrapped his arms around Derek, hugging him tightly, without even thinking about how the beta wasn’t much of a hugger. To Scott’s surprise though, Derek immediately returned the embrace, holding him just as tight, if not, tighter._

_“I’m going to miss you.” Scott said when they finally broke the hug._

_“I’m going to miss you too.” Derek revealed, again giving Scott a small smile._

As Scott continued walking through the woods, the memories of the events that had happened in the last few weeks ran through his mind. It had hurt, a lot, having his pack nearly ripped apart by Theo, and they still had some stuff to work through, but at the end of the day, the Alpha couldn’t help but feel that it made them stronger. They had survived and powered through, and that caused a sense of pride in the leader.

And even though the pack members that had returned to help would be leaving again soon, he knew that they would always be a part of his back and would return if he needed them too. Pack was basically family after all. It would be a lot quieter and maybe even lonelier with them gone though, maybe even more so since Kira was also gone, but they might be having some new members in the pack soon too.

Corey had become quite close to Mason since he had come back from the dead and left Theo with Hayden and Tracy. Mason was doing his best on filling the chimera in on everything he had learned about the supernatural. Scott wouldn’t be surprised if Mason would soon start bringing him to their ‘pack meetings’. The younger teenager had already asked the Alpha, who immediately gave him permission to do so.

Tracy, Scott still didn’t know about. He had gone to see her twice with Jackson and Ethan, and should that she was fast learner when Jackson started teaching her how to control her abilities. There were times she was a little hesitant to use her powers, having flashbacks from when she was out of control before the Doctors killed her, back when she attacked the prison transport, as well as remembering all the people she killed, including her own father. Scott knew that it would take time for her to get through all that trauma and was willing to help her, but she might not be staying in Beacon Hills.

Since her father was dead, she had been placed in a foster family in town, but she had an Aunt in New York and was most likely going to live with her. Either way, Scott hoped that she would be alright. And Hayden, well, Hayden was currently making out with Liam on the cliff beyond the treeline that overlooked the town.

“Ahem.” Scott faked a cough in order to get the teenagers’ attention as he broke through the trees, grinning at the sight. Liam and Hayden immediately pulled away and looked over at him, looking both embarrassed and stunned at his sudden appearance.

“Hi Scott.” Liam said sheepishly. Scott, still grinning, slowly started walking over to them.

“Hi. You know, I don’t want to sound too much like a buzzkill, but it is almost midnight, and a school night. Your parents, and your sister,” Scott directed the last part at Hayden as he knew that her parents were gone, “are going to be worried if you two don’t get home soon.”

Scott paused when he came to stand in front of the two, and as he looked up at the full moon shining down on the three of them, he continued, “And it’s a full moon. Kind of dangerous of be out in the woods this late on a full moon.”

Liam and Hayden chuckled a little when he said that, but nodded, knowing he was right. Hayden started to move, planning on making her way back to her car that she and Liam had taken to get to the edge of the forest, but Liam, who was still holding her hand stayed still, pulling her to a stop.

“You know, I could say the same thing to you.” Liam responded. Though his tone was light-hearted, his eyes revealed his worry, especially when he glanced down at Scott’s chest where the injuries Theo had given him used to be.

“But I’m older than you two, and stronger.” Scott reminded him, keeping his voice light as well. When the worry didn’t leave Liam’s eyes though, he added, “I’m heading home soon too. Don’t worry.”

“Do you want us to wait for you?” Liam then asked, finally looking back up at his Alpha’s face.

“No, I’m fine. You guys head home. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Scott answered. Though Liam looked a little concerned, he nodded and slowly started heading towards the trees with Hayden. Scott waited until they were out of sight before he turned back to face the town below him.

He most definitely wasn’t expecting to find Liam and Hayden here when he decided to come, but it was almost, poetic in a way, to see his beta with the girl he loved at his and Allison’s old meeting place. Scott highly doubted that Liam knew the importance of this place to the high school senior. Even though he had told the younger teenager about Allison, he hadn’t said anything about their former rendezvous point, and he doubted anyone else did either. Sometimes, fate does strange things.

Scott looked away from the view after a few moments, and started to look around for something else. His eyes quickly found a large rock, and he made his way over it. It was nearly covered with old and dead leaves, broken branches and dirt, but when the werewolf pushed it all away, he could somewhat make out the words he had written on it two years ago, back when he and Allison were still dating. Most of the message, which originally was ‘ _couldn’t wait, missed you_ ’, was completely gone. The only thing that remained was _‘miss you’_.

The Alpha brought a hand up to his neck, grabbed the chain he was wearing and pulled on it until he found the medallion, the one that had a wolf and other designs on it, the necklace that belonged to Allison. He hadn’t planned on wearing it, but when he saw it on his bedside table this morning, he all most felt compelled to put it on, so he did. He wasn’t sure if he was going to keep wearing it, or what he was going to do with it, but for now, it felt right wearing it.

He looked down at the necklace for a moment before he looked back up at the message on the rock and whispered, “I miss you too Allison.”

With that being said, Scott stood up and started making the trek back to through the forest to his bike. As much as her death still hurt, he could feel that pain slowly lessening, just like the pain of his pack being separated, and he knew that he would be okay, and so would his pack. They would be okay.

_We’re all broken and damaged, and we aren’t quite fixed yet._

_A lot of us have gone through h*ll, but you know what?_

_We came back. We came back stronger._

_You know why? Because we are warriors, and warriors fight._ **\- unknown**

**TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW**

As the full moon continued to shine, its silver beams hit an old, abandoned building deep in the woods, long forgotten by the world. The light shone through the cracks od the old, rotting walls made of wood and directed hit a large, cylinder like tube, filled with a green liquid which held a person. It was one of the few pieces of evidence anyone had been there recently.

If there was anyone there to witness it, they would’ve seen that when a large moonbeam hit the person who was floating in the glass right in the face, his eyes opened. Seconds later, they would’ve seen him raise his arm and punch through the glass, shattering it into millions of pieces and the person to fall down to the ground while the water soaked the floor as it was released from its prison. But, no one was there to see it, and no one was there to watch the person stand up and start walking out of the building, and no one was able to warn anyone of the latest threat in Beacon Hills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this chapter concludes Heart of a Warrior. Regarding the quote, I have no idea who said it. I saw and thought it fit this chapter perfectly. I claim no ownership whatsoever. I hope you all enjoyed this story!


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